My fave painting from a festival last weekend

Finally a chance to post about the festival were me and Rebecca face painted at the Silverado Days.

HERE COMES TREBLE
This one gal was in line to be face painted and when I saw her beautiful bald head (she has alopecia) I asked if she wouldn't mind if we could paint her head - she said go for it! When we were done, she said she wanted us to paint her head EVERY day! She was a really cool chick, and also her friends who were hanging out patiently waiting for us to finish painting her were way cool too! They taught us how to "hand hug". Now I feel hip.

Rebecca did the back of her head, and her signature peacock feather on one side. I did the top, side and treble symbol, since she loves to sing. As we were painting her, she sang a Beatles song in a very eclectic version. She has a lovely voice and spirit to match. Thanks Sonora!

Face Painting at a High School Reunion Picnic

Over the weekend, I face painted at Laguna Beach High School Class of 1988's Family Picnic. It was a lot of fun! A lot of kids too!

At every event I face paint, sometimes there is one design that I did that was either a new color, a new way of painting etc. and it is my event favorite (above). This one of the lime green cheetah was my fave. I just love the color on this little lady, with her fab hair, great smile and glistening green glitter!

To make this rockin' color green I used Wolfe Essentials Light Green #057 as a base. I didn't like how flat it looked, so I put Kryolan's Interferenze Silver Green on top of it, which gave it the nice sheen look. (For my FP Friends who read my blog)

All ages of kids love face painting!

Wolfe Brothers Face Painting Workshop

Me and "the Bros"

What a freakin' blast.

This past week was so much fun!

I helped co-produce the Wolfe Brothers Workshop here in Orange County with Rebecca who invited them out. It was a face painting workshop where we were honored to have these brothers (twins!) to come out and teach us their techniques.

I can't remember the last time I laughed so much or so hard - and for those of you who know me....I have a pretty darn loud laugh!

Besides cutting up a lot, they taught us a lot. But the thing that impressed me so much, was their method of teaching. They were very encouraging and honest about our results and never made you feel like you wouldn't get it. Most of us creative types are perfectionists by nature, so when trying something new you want it to be right, right away. A line they kept saying was "the first is the worst" meaning it will take some practice to get it. So I never felt discouraged and they empowered us with so much.

If you are a fellow face painter reading this, then I highly recommend you take their class if you can. Even if you are a beginner or a seasoned painter you WILL learn a ton!

Here is a link to the photos. You can tell just from viewing the photos what fun these guys are!!!

Face Painting Rocks Buttons!

IT'S HERE.

The Button Maker!

*sigh* me so happy.....

My three-and-a half-year old daughter attempting to push it down to make a button.



Her first button!

So we made 170 buttons in about two hours. Hubby came home from work, saw all the stuff on the table then gave me the whole Ricky Ricardo "What the hell is this?" schpeel. Stood around and watched for a bit, then passively started making buttons (like he wasn't interested) - and kept going. It freed me to keep cutting with the circle cutter which speeded up the process. Then I made the small labels to stick to the back with the instructions on how to wash off.

On one of the buttons I sprinkled some yellow glitter on it. The picture looks terrible - just looks sandy/gritty. But in person, it is very SPARKLY (and anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE THE SPARKLE) and when it hits the sun or light - ZING! Sparkle goodness! This one I will wear on my apron.

THE VERY NEXT DAY:

The next day I face painted at my sons' AYSO Soccer Opening Day - hubby is Coach of both their teams, and of course, I am Team Mom.....

Every kid I face painted got a button so now the moms or dads know how to wash it off. Hopefully it will end up on some bulletin boards in homes all over Orange County! (BTW, this is my very fast one-minute cheetah since the line was as long as a soccer field!)

Face Painting for a Marine's Welcome Home BBQ

On Friday I donated my face painting services to a "Welcome Home Marines" BBQ for the 2/4 Marine Battalion. It was sponsored and hosted by the San Clemente Chamber of Commerce, and they called me to see if I could help out. You bet! What a worthy cause to provide face painting for the children of these families. But, I think I painted more Marines that kids!! JK.

When I was painting this darling little girl, her dad (a Marine) had to take a cell phone call outside my tent. It was just me and her, no one was in line yet and we were quiet while I was painting her. Then in a tiny, cutest, most angelic voice she simply tells me:

"My daddy is home."

I about lost it when she said that. So to cover up me being choked up, I said in a high pitch voice "I'm soooo glad! Does that make you happy?" She said mmm-hmmm.

Then I went back to finish painting her. Wow.

That made such an impact on me, a realty of how much these military families are making huge sacrifices for all of us and our country. And I imagined how much this little girl had grown up since the last time her daddy saw her so many months ago when he was deployed.

As civilians, we all "know" that they are making sacrifices but until you are up close and personal with the realities it doesn't quite register the magnitude of it.....

This was the area where I was face painting at the Ole Hanson site. Gorgeous view, eh? I love living in San Clemente. We have such a sense of community here.

Thanks to Claudia, Norma and the other lovely ladies at the San Clemente Chamber of Commerce for inviting me to be a part of this special event!

UPDATE:
The next day there was an article in our Sun Post, and the Orange County Register:

Can't wait

I did it.

I ordered one.

Should be here in a couple of days......

*so excited*

A big thanks to the owner, Rebecca - she rocks.

Face Painting at the Rodeo

I had a face painting and glitter tatts booth over this past weekend at a Rodeo. Rebecca came down on Saturday to help me out and we painted away. I just love the "colorful bandannas" that I found to decorate my booth with!

I wish I could have walked around and checked out everything, but there is just no time. So I was able to take just one photo of the stadium from near our booth (zoomed in).

Here we are painting - Rebecca on the left, me on the right. Can you tell it was a hot weekend?

These girls are all friends and own horses at the stables. They all wanted their horses' names painted on their arms along with a character's name (Edward) from some book they are "obsessed" with. I need to work on my calligraphy some more...

Aren't these girlies just the cutest? Gal in the middle painted by me, the gals on the sides painted by Bec.

I think these are two of my favorite phtos of the gig:

So today I am exhausted and my back really hurts....but it was fun and it was worth it!

Face Painting at Dunn-Edwards Paints Grand Opening

Yesterday I face painted and did glitter tatts at Dunn-Edwards Paints' 100th Store Grand Opening. Hubby and me love their paint, as the interior of our house happens to be painted in all Dunn-Edwards.

Wow, there were a lot of folks at this event! What was way-cool was that an 18 wheeler pulled up that was a mobile In-N-Out Burger and served their yummy burgers (I didn't have time to get one, but wanted to go to a drive thru after the gig, but was too tired).

I was happy to be able to work with my vendor friends - Tom Kelly of Cartoon of You provided cartoon portraits, and Amy Nehrig of Twist and Shout Balloons provided balloon twisting.

Face Painting for a First Birthday Party

I cannot describe just how adorable this little girl was! She is the celebrant's "big sister" and she looked so darling in her traditional Chinese attire for her little brother's First Birthday celebration. I absolutely love the colors in her dress and her hair bows. When I first met her -she is shy at first- I told her that I wanted bows JUST LIKE HERS for my hair! After I face painted her, throughout the party she would sneak over to my mirror to get another peek at her face. So darn cute!

I had the privilige to work again with Laura Caldwell a.k.a. Annie Banannie and she provided entertainment with her balloon show and twisting balloons for the kids after her show. She was my balloon twister vendor for the Mary Poppins party that I produced a while back. She is amazing and is great with children!!!

I also met a really nice couple -Lori & Keith-, professional photographers of Lori Anderson Photography and they were busy, busy, busy getting shots of the event and the kids. I can't wait to see their images that they took!

Overall, it was a beautiful party, and Eunice the mom, did a fab job of decorating their home and I have never seen more food for a party!

Fourth of July Face Painting

Had a busy Fourth of July day! But it was a blast!

First I did face painting at a block party in Orange. WOW, what a cool street! It was like a scene out of a Norman Rockwell picture - kids all dressed in red, white & blue with their bikes all decorated. Everyone had shade tents in their front yard and were hanging out, folks with grills and big-belly smokers, old-fashioned popcorn maker and snow cones were displayed. Some even had misters hanging from the telephone poles to cool the kids down. Then they had a trackless train giving the kids rides up and down the blocked-off street and "Uncle Sam" making an appearance. I told the host that I want to move to their street!

This fella wanted a tiger which I did in red, white & blue.

Then immediately following that gig, I went down to a country club in Newport Beach to do face painting at their Fourth of July Carnival (I had also did their Easter celebration too). Rebecca & me had a great time, and I did a few glitter tattoos as well.

When that was over for us, I drove like a mad dog before dusk to meet my family to watch the fireworks. From our view where we were sitting, we could see the Dana Point fireworks and the San Clemente fireworks. We had a lot of fun!

Face Painting for Lululemon's Grand Opening!

I was invited by the store mangager of Lululemon Athletica to come and face paint and do glitter tats at their Grand Opening of their new store at the Irvine Spectrum.

It was a great draw to have the kids get their faces painted while the parents where introduced to the store and learn about the products and yoga sessions that they offer. But the moms and grandmoms got into the glitters tats just as much as the kids did!

Kids say the funniest things sometimes!

I always give the birthday girl a gem or jewels on their design when I face paint at their birthday party.

I was face painting at this above darling little girls' birthday party, and one of her friends said:

Girl in line: "I want a gem too!"

Me: "Sweetie, only the birthday girl gets a gem since it is her special day."

Girl in line: "Well then, how do I get a gem?"

Me: "Have me come to your next birthday party, and I'll put a gem on your face painting."

She was quiet for a moment.

Girl in line: "How does my mommy rent you?"

I wanted to crack up and laugh so badly.

I gave her my business card and told her to give it to her mommy, so she can find out how to "rent" me for her party........

Kids say the funniest things sometimes!

I get to Face Paint at the SWEETEST places!

That's one thing about this job (actually face painting doesn't feel like a "job" to me, since it is just too much fun!) is that I get to go to the neatest venues for parties.

For this birthday party it was hosted at KRISPY KREME!

Wowzzee! Can you say sugar rush?

It was so cute seeing the little ones getting to dip and sprinkle their own doughnut.

The birthday boy wanted to be BatMan and he really liked his mask:

Face Painting for Little League Closing Day

YaY! I got a EZ-Up shade tent! This is the first event where I got to use it.

We face painted at my sons' Little League Closing Day in our part of town. And I (well it was my hubby and kids) sold the funsticks of Colorful Candy Art - http://www.colorfulcandyart.com/
This year, the Little League event coordinators wanted to make Closing Day more like a carnival and they had a dunk tank, bouncy house, local food vendors etc. I have to give them kudos for executing a great event and the kids had a blast!

We had a lot of fun, but learned quickly that I need to get sand bag weights for the tent. We were in a gusty wind location and hubby spent most of his time holding the center of the tent down!

Angels Watching Over Me

Yesterday I was face painting for my good friend Mary's children's birthday party. This cute lil' gal climbs up into my chair and requests the angel design. As I start to paint the wings on her, she begins this conversation:

Cute Girl: "When people die, they become angels. Right?"

Me: "They sure do sweetie."

Cute Girl: "But why do they become angels?"

Me: "Because then they can watch over us and help us while we are still here."

Cute Girl: "But why do they need to watch over us?"

Me: "Because honey, we need all the help we can get."

Cute Girl: "But why do we need help?"

Me: "We just do. Angels are very smart, and they know what's best - that's why they look over us."

Cute Girl: Quiet.

I guess that answered that......

Face Painting at Surf Jam

Me, Rebecca & Naomi provided face painting at my children's school for their annual carnival called Surf Jam. Here is my booth, but not completely set-up yet, but at least you get the idea. We just did quick designs of half faces or masks for $5 and had a steady line the entire event. My friend Mary is a Heriatage Makers consultant and shared the booth with us. She took the photos of the finished faces, got the parent's email to send them a link of the photo gallery so they can purchase photos if they want. It was so helpful having her there and to take pictures and made for faster painting for us!

I also sold candy tubes which were a big hit with the kids. Plus, it gave them something to do while waiting to get face painted. Check out my website for the sandy candy at Colorful Candy Art.

Here is my "Cheater Cheetah" meaning it is my quick, three minute cheetah design:

Here the kids are making their candy tubes. Wow, look in the left side corner, behind the blonde boy - she is throwin' it back!

Thank You Jodi!

Jodi Carr's workshop was excellent! Here she is demonstrating her monster dragon on my son.

She taught us with her Wolfe split cakes how to quickly paint a flower, dragon, dolphin, sunset scene, and tiara. And since she is the only US distributor for Fantasy Worldwide face painting creams she showed us different designs how to use the Fantasy. Which I love the shimmer colors! Stop by her website and check out the products she has for sale.

From Russia With Love - Their Face Painting Class

My best friend has been visiting Russian orphanages with her church Capo Beach Calvary for the past three years. While they are making a circuit of visiting hundreds of orphaned children in orphanages, the team provides them with a fun day filled with candy, games, toys and face painting. Mind you, these children may only receive for their birthday one piece of chocolate. So when this team arrives, they love every minute of their visit!

Our famous Orange County photographer Joe Photo went last year to Russia, and took professional shots of of their visit (click here to view the Russian article - in the group pic, my friend is second from the left in the pink jacket). Please read the article, it will give you some realty of how blessed we are. From his photos, I noticed they were using acrylic paints to paint the children's faces with.

Y'all know how I feel about acrylic paints used for face painting. *eye twitching*

So I gently educated my friend about how there are many wonderful products just for face painting, and offered to conduct a class to show some of the team how to use them.

Here are some photos of my class for the Russia team:

It was a lot of fun, but it went by so fast and we ran out of time! Hopefully they will take their Snazaroo Rainbow palette and practice, practice, practice.

I appreciate all their commitment and efforts, and wish the team well. I will be praying for their trip - they leave on May 30th.

Newsworthy Face Painting

Yesterday Rebecca and I did face painting at the Silverado Childrens Center's Chili Cook-Off out at Irvine Lake. I had just finished face painting a boy and a guy starting snapping away, and he was from the Orange County Register.

I took a photo of him, taking a photo of the boy:

And this is the photographer's image that was used online at OC Register's photo slideshow of the reported event:

Photo by Jebb Harris, Orange County Register

I had just gotten my new shatterproof, child-friendly mirror and this was the first gig where I was able to use it. I love it! It is big, and crystal clear (not like other acrylic mirrors that are cloudy and warp their image) so the kids can look as long as they like and make faces with their new look!

Happy Keester!

Sorry, I am BEHIND on posting a Happy Easter wish!

F.A.B.A.I.C. Instructors Coming to Orange County

This year the Face & Body Art International Convention will be held May 21-26 in Orlando, FL.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend and really wish I could go (I'll gladly accept any sponsorships or barters)!

BUT, some of the world's best instructors will be taking it "On the Road" after the F.A.B.A.I.C. convention.

I have the great honor of being the point person and event planner for their stay in Orange County. I was thrilled when I was able to convince Marcela Murad, the producer of F.A.B.A.I.C. to come to OC, and to allow me to coordinate the location, set-up, A/V, food etc.

So we are excited to have the following international instructors visiting:

Lynne Jamieson (Australia)

Jinny (Canada)

Marcela Murad (USA)

Special guests: Fairy Emilie and Kelly Virgona (Australia)

Event Info:

June 4th - 5th, 2008 - Orange County, California

Best Western Laguna El Toro Inn

23702 Rockfield Blvd.

Lake Forest, California 92630-2878

(949) 458-1900

Mention F.A.B.A.I.C. or Romanza Events for the group rate discount on rooms

(Do not call Best Western's central, toll-free number or you will not get the discounted rate)

Free Shuttle service to John Wayne Airport during the week, call the hotel for the schedule.

Doors will open at 5:00pm on the first day, followed by a pizza party and a jam session. Jinny and Lynne will do a hands-on body painting jam while Emile and Marcela help with the ones that want to face paint.

World Face and Body Art Alliance certifications will be conducted at this time.
Jam session ends at 10:00pm.

The following day will start at 9:00am and go until 5:00pm with hands-on classes and demos by all of the instructors. Lunch is included.

Jam only $ 50.00

Class Only $ 175.00

Both $ 200.00

To register, go to the F.A.B.A.I.C. registration page (this does not include your hotel portion).

We hope to see you there, and be sure to find me at the event and say Hey!

Mark Reid's Face Painting Workshop

I haven't had the chance to update this blog in a while, so I wanted to post about the amazing face painting workshop I assisted with coordinating and attending mid-January. Mark Reid is an incredible and gifted face and body artist, and we had the pleasure of getting to see him in action. He taught approximately 14 face painters from this area. Here he is painting step-by-step a "hulk" monster design on my son who was one of the models.

We had such a great time, and Mark is just the funniest, sweetest guy and was so helpful in guiding us along to better our brush strokes, lines and blending etc. If you are a face painter and can take the opportunity to take Mark's class, I highly recommend it!