My Time in Connecticut

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, I attended a two-day seminar in Connecticut, hosted by my friend Z, and taught by another friend, world-renowned body painter Pashur. It was absolutely amazing.

We spent two full days learning technique and design from Pashur, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., eating great food provided by (and some of it cooked by) Z, devouring carrot cake and fudge made by one of our classmates, and generally having a good time. In the evenings, we just painted as the mood struck, watched each other paint, tried out each others' supplies, and got some great critiques.

Every time I do something like this, my painting improves, so I can't wait until Sunday when I'm painting at Ho-Ho-Kus' tree lighting to see how this experience has affected me.

The first day's class was themed in designs inspired by insects and flowers, and this is some of my work:



I love this drop-shadow technique too! My spiders will never be the same.

During the jam that night, I tried a couple things, just to get Pashur's critiques. They were invaluable, but this is what I did:





The second day of class was all about holiday designs, and in addition to an AMAZING and scary Jack Frost design I hope to use this Sunday, and some great ornament and snowflake ideas, I picked up the CUTEST Rudolph and penguin that I absolutely KNOW I'll be using!


Plus, during the jam, I knocked this out, loosely based on a holly butterfly Pashur showed us:

gz-Body Painting or LA Fete 2010

I have had the most amazing time this past week, at the Louisiana Living Arts Festival in New Orleans, otherwise known as LA Fete.

LA Fete started in 2006, when I was offered a pot of gumbo. No, seriously. I'm a member of some international face and body art discussion groups, and I mentioned in one that my favorite food was Cajun. Susie Pierce, otherwise known as Susie the Crazy Cajun, told me that if I came down to her hometown of Baton Rouge, she'd make me a pot of gumbo. My response was, "You name the weekend, I'm there," and all of a sudden there were about 30 other artists chiming in with "me too!" We found ourselves picking St. Patrick's Day weekend of 2007, and LA Fete was born.

Once a party was planned with so many artists, it was only natural that we intend to practice our art, and that morphed into scheduled classes and workshops.

So once a year, for 4 days in March, I go down to New Orleans for LA Fete. I take classes, jam with my friends, face and body paint, and practice my henna.

We attend the New Orleans St. Paddy's Day parade, take an afternoon to face paint at the Audubon Zoo and donate the proceeds to charity, and body paint models for a show at a French Quarter club.

On Thursday night, we had a zombie crawl, and I got to become a tourist attraction in my own right. I'm waiting to see photos of myself show up on Facebook or Google. My friend Z painted me, and I painted other friends Dot Com the clown and Liz Alaniz.

This year, for the first time, my husband Eric came with me. After the Fete was over, we stayed an extra day and went to the aquarium.

We're finally home and exhausted, but it was worth it! Nowhere else do I get an experience like that, working alongside the masters and feeding off of each others' creativity. My clients will benefit from it, too. Every time I come back from LA Fete, my skills are vastly improved. I can't wait to try them out this weekend!

It's Not Just Faces

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!