Wicked Faire Revisited

I know that I mentioned in my Wicked Faire post that I was hired last minute to do a full body painting on a cat for a fashion show that was schedule to occur at the Faire.  The request was not to make her look like a cat, but to take my cues from the mask she'd be wearing with her ears and tail.  I had just over an hour to complete the look, from shoulders to shoes.  I did it!

The model, Nicole, was great to work with, and apparently was also great at the show, which I unfortunately had to miss.

Then again, she's a dancer, so how could she not be great?  Those boots are painted on, by the way.  Nicole had on t-strap shoes, but we wanted her to look like she was wearing boots, so I painted them right up her legs.

I did my best to mimic the swirls and curls of the mask, as well as the crosshatch pattern and fading that were involved in it.

All photos in this post were taken by Chris Bossio.

Throw a Party!

An Alice in Wonderland party!  Now, you can tell from my prior posts that I've got Alice on the brain.  But there's a new development.  Of course I can paint your face (or the faces of your kids and their friends) as the inhabitants of Wonderland - it's great to go to the movie painted and get some attention!  See this post.

But now, I can also tattoo you with glitter or ink in Wonderland-themed designs!  I can assure you, I'm the first person in NJ to get these terrific temporary tattoo stencils.  They were custom-made by a wonderful stencil maker in North Carolina, and aren't available anywhere else!

I've got the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter's hat (hey, that rhymes!), Alice herself, one of the cards, the White Rabbit, and of course the Caterpillar.

Contact me ASAP to check my availability for your next part or excursion to the movie theater!

And while I won't be here in NJ for St. Paddy's, there's no reason why you shouldn't throw a pre-or-post-Paddy's party!  I'll be in New Orleans from March 16-23, at a face and body painting seminar and event.  There will be lots of photos from that, I assure you!

But you won't want to miss out on having me at your event anyway, since I've also got brand-new St. Paddy's stencils, also from North Carolina, and also unavailable elsewhere.  You'll be the coolest kid on your block when sporting these designs!

I've done two glitter tattoos on myself to show you how great they are.  I had to do a Cheshire Cat, since he's my absolute favorite in Wonderland.  I went with the Disney colors of pink & purple, though I could make him any colors I choose...

And in honor of St. Patrick's Day, I've got my lucky horseshoe and four-leaf clover all ready to go!  I used two shades of green and some gold on this one.

Much like face painting, glitter tattoos are a lot easier to do on someone else than myself!  Anyway, hope you like these.  Let me know if you want some too!

Body Painting: Alice in Wonderland

In my last post, I showed a bit of the body painting I did on Toni at Wicked Faire. Well, yesterday I received a CD of photos from one of the professional photographers, and my biggest problem has been figuring out which ones to post because they're all so great!

All photos in this post were taken by Phillip Makselan.

Toni met me in the Green Room with her bra cups already on, and while we were waiting to be called to the stage, I laid down the blue base and the glitter spray.  The blue is Fantasy Worldwide cream; it's really easy to wear and I knew she'd be comfortable in it.  Last year, as we found out, the chocolate I used on her corset tightened as it dried and pinched her.  No issues like that with the creams!  The glitter spray is also skin-safe, made by Mehron, a theater makeup company.

This photo (above) was right after we got on stage.  You can't tell, I don't think, but I was already exhausted. I spent the entire day and night in Renaissance Faire garb, and that corset is tight!  I started "work" at noon.  Plus, I had the surprise full-body painting earlier in the day, and other paintings throughout, so by 8:15 p.m. when this photo was taken, I was ready to lie down (and the day ended at 2 a.m.!).  

Thing is, when I'm painting, I wake back up.  It's just too fun and makes me too happy.  Plus, having an audience is always a good thing.  :D

I started with the Cheshire cat's face because it was the very first element I thought of when I knew I wanted to do this design.  What's Wonderland without the cat?  Once I blocked out that shape, though, I was all over the place, painting everywhere at once.

We had a pretty good audience.  It was smallish, but constant as some people went to see other shows, and then come back, and others passing in the hall poked their heads in to see what was up and ended up either coming in to sit down, or hanging out in the doorway.

On the fly, I realized the teapot really should have red flowers, even though it wouldn't quite be a "set" with the teacup.

S'ok!  

Body painting is really physical, for both the artist and the model.  I kept asking her to turn, raise and lower her arms, and take different positions.  At the same time, I was often bending over and around her.

Or even crouching down to paint upwards.

I did mostly stick to the front first.

At this point, I was actually down on my knees to paint, just to make it easier.

For the back, I was all about the mushrooms and caterpillar.  Together with the Cheshire cat, the caterpillar is my other favorite character of Wonderland.

And what's the caterpillar without his hookah?

Once all the big colors were blocked in, I was able to add details and outlining, since I was going for a cartoonish sort of look.

To tie the back and front together, I used a vine that traveled over Toni's shoulder.  The funny thing about that vine... for Valentine's Day, my husband bought me a 2010 leatherbound edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Other Stories, in hot pink, to inspire me for this painting.  Around the outside of the cover is a trellis of black vines that - last minute, did inspire me.

This is the finished back.

The finished front.

And a few nifty detail shots for you.

And all done in just about an hour!