Wicked Faire 2011

Another faire over. I have to say, before it started, I was really torn. I've had so much going on with the day job, the family, the friends, the soap, the house... I was already kind of tired.  Plus, I was just sick last week, which wore me out. So as much as I look forward to faire, I was having a hard time getting geared up for it, exhausted as I was.

I was in a great mood once I was on the way, though.

Friday night is always slow, so I just had a few takers. One was a faire volunteer, my buddy Aiden, who actually has organized the faire vendors for several years.

Would you believe I forgot my camera the first night? I took out the battery to charge it overnight, and left the camera and battery on my nightstand. Oops! So that's why the photos aren't great; I had to resort to using my phone, which has a decent camera but it wasn't cooperating with the hotel lighting.

Anyway, I did get to do this cool Steampunk painting. She was wearing all black and had this awesome neon orange hair, so her guy suggested I include some orange. I love matching, so why not?

I so wish it was clearer!

During the rest of the night, in between hanging out with friends and catching up with everyone I hadn't seen in a year or so, I doodled on my own arm and got my hair braided.

The Saturday is the big faire day, when everything's happening. I had a lot more painting going on, wore my demon bat wings, and painted my face too.

Going in for a closeup...

I know the face paint and wings don't exactly scream "smiling face," but I look so much better when I smile. Besides, I was happy. I was having a really good time. So... the painting...

I had three staff members/volunteers come for painting on Saturday. One of the early paintings was on my friend Martha.

And then a request for just a few swirls.

One thing I love about Wicked Faire is that most of my models tell me, "whatever you think is good," like Oliver did.

Sometimes, though, I get a somewhat more specific request. This chick told me she likes to head for the darker side, is a fan of vampires and zombies, and found the painting I did on myself to be too tame for her. And then she let me run with it. She liked this.

Deciding what to do on this Mad Hatter was easy, once she asked me if I could do it. Like there was even a question!

And these Care Bears just wanted bear muzzles.

How cute are they?

Another cute couple were Thumbelina and her fiance. Loved them!

And then in the early evening, I got to do the body painting on Toni, a model I've painted several times, who just lets me do my thing. She's awesome.

And she's a nut.

And of course the requisite shot of the two of us together.

After we were done with the corset and wings, Toni took me and Eric down the hall to a party, where we got some kickin' sangria and I got to paint these two awesome people.

After a very long day (and night), I packed up and we went to watch a magic show before heading off back home for the night.

And then... today was day 3, the last day of Wicked Faire. I had another body painting lined up, an awesome model, Kiki. Not only did she come up with the idea of a peacock-themed painting, but she went out and bought peacock feathers, leaving her local craft store completely devoid of them. And she found ruffled underwear so it'd look "feathery," but could only find them in white... so she proceeded to buy fabric dye and dye them black! Now that's dedication.

I wanted to keep her "street legal" for the hotel, where just pasties were deemed insufficient, so I used pasties on her, then painted her, then used spirit gum to affix some of the feathers for the bra-top of her bodice.

And the finished product, which she loved.

And again, that requisite joint shot...

The best part was that she kept getting stopped for compliments and photos. Love it!

So... that was Wicked Faire 2011, from the perspective of me. I say it was a success all around.

Not Just Faces

... and here's where we get to the reason why this blog has a warning.

For a face and body painter, all skin is canvas, not just the face. On this blog, I've posted photos of arms, necks, and chests I've painted as well, but that's not the long and short of it either. Body painting is an art form, used all over the world in television commercials, print ads, and even an annual issue of Sports Illustrated!

This weekend, I'll be doing face and body painting at the Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire in Somerset, NJ. I've done this for several years now. The difference is that this year, I won't just be a vendor. On Saturday night, I'm scheduled to do a body painting demonstration on stage! I'm incredibly excited about this, since I love theater as well as painting, and so now I get to combine two of my arts.

It's not the first time I've body painted. In fact, the model I'm painting on Saturday night is one I painted at last year's Wicked Faire as well. Last year's theme was "Wicked Chocolate Factory," so I used face paint as a base, then Green Marble to seal the design. On top of that, I painted her with body frosting I purchsed just for this event.

This year's theme is "Wicked Tea Party," based on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, so I've got a design planned that I hope will wow the masses! As a big fan of Alice, all I hope is that I can live up to the story and do it justice.

I also go every year to New Orleans in March (except last March, when I was busy getting married!) to LA Fete, the Living Arts Festival, and take classes in face and body painting, henna, and other forms of body art. We also face paint for one afternoon of the event at the New Orleans Zoo and donate the proceeds to charity.

In 2008, I worked with two friends, Elaine Tindell-Rohr of Alabama and Lisa Rickels of Mississippi, on this great goth body painting one evening.

On another evening of the event, we painted models for a burlesque show at a bar in New Orleans. Lisa helped me realize my design on our wonderful model, Tiffany, who was a hit at the show!

This weekend should be incredibly busy and tiring, but great fun. Expect lots of photos!