Month: January 2019

We at Paintertainment and Wet Paint Magazine are holding a contest this February! Unlike most face and body art contests, this one does NOT involve any painting at all! Rather, we are looking for your clever and creative ways to re-use and repurpose your empty paint containers!

We’ve all got them lying around…containers that once held paint that we either used up or have re-potted into a new kit. Rather than tossing them in the trash or recycle bin, why not use our creative minds to come up with other fun ways to re-use them?

Paintertainment is sponsoring hundreds of dollars worth of prizes for the top three winners of this contest! The first two places will also get to choose which issue of Wet Paint Magazine they’d like included in their prize pack. Every winner gets a copy of Gretchen Fleener’s book “Realism for Face & Body Artists,” and an awesome assortment of paints, brushes, stencils and other goodies! Who knows…we may throw in even more surprises before we ship these!

RULES:

There is no purchase required to compete or win. This is a global competition, open to everyone! Artists are welcome to enter more than one idea. By entering this contest you agree to allow Paintertainment, LLC and Wet Paint Magazine to use and share your submitted photos in contest online and in print, in advertising, announcements, and in a feature article in an upcoming issue of Wet Paint Magazine announcing the winners and ideas! Contest begins on February 1, 2019. Contest ends on February 28, 2019, at 12:59 PM CDT. Winners will be announced on or before the release of the summer issue of Wet Paint Magazine May 1st, 2019.

HOW TO ENTER:

❶Like and follow Paintertainment on both Facebook & Instagram (@Paintertainmentdotcom),

❷Like and follow Wet Paint Magazine on Facebook (@WetPaintMag) and Instagram (@WetPaintMagazine), so that we can find and tag participants when needed.

❸Submit your good, clear photos of the finished product and at least 4 photos of the steps of how you made it via email to Gretchen@Paintertainment.com with the words “Wet Paint Recycling Contest” in the subject line, no later than February 28, 2019 (11:59 pm CDT). Make sure to include your name, country, Facebook/Instagram tags, and a brief description of your idea. We want to share your creations in the next issue of Wet Paint, so good, clear photos are a must!

Questions? Email Gretchen[at]Paintertainment[dot]com! Good luck and have FUN!

It’s a new year, and with new years come new challenges!! This month I’ve decided to participate again in the super fun Facebook group “Inspiration to Paint!” Every day they give you a theme to paint. Paintings have to be done the day-of, no painting ahead.

January 1st’s theme was to paint something inspired by the late, great Jocelyn Casdorph! Such a tragic loss for our face painting community. She is as beautiful on the outside as she is on the inside, so I painted a little portrait!

Today’s theme was to choose a word for your “intent” for 2019; not necessarily a resolution. The word I chose is “Growth!” This year I hope to grow in my skills, business, relationships, faith, and creativity!

And in keeping with the growth theme, besides this month of participation in ITP, I have decided to start a personal exploration in patterns. Here are my first two paintings…houndstooth and paisley! Stay tuned for more pattern inspired designs in the coming weeks and months!

Houndstooth…boy, did this one make my brain hurt!!

fun with Paisley!

Happy new year, and happy painting!

This year marked the 10th edition of Jamvention in Wortel, Belgium! I was so honored to be among the teachers this year and it was amazing, yet again. The Jamvention is put on by Face Paint in Progress, also known as “FIP.“

Even the first year I attended Jamvention my husband and I were welcomed into Willy and Jacklyn’s home like family. The convention officially starts on Friday night. Despite the huge mountain of work they have do on the Jamvention itself, on Thursday night Jacklyn cooked an amazing dinner for the artists who had arrived in town.

On Friday we were treated to breakfast, and a wonderful walk over 3 miles in the woods with Jacklyn and her dogs! It felt great to get out and walk after the long travel day before.

out for a walk

Everyone was very patient with my obsession with photographing mushrooms, haha! I love all the different colors and textures of mushrooms and probably have taken hundreds of photos of them on walks over the years!

Everyone pitching in to decorate and set everything up!

We aren’t able to get into the space until 5 pm, as it is used as a camp for kids during the week. So, we have 2 hours to get it all ready before attendees start to arrive. Everybody pitches in to help set up and decorate the rooms! There is such an awesome sense of community and ownership among the FIP team, which contagious and spreads to all of the visiting instructors. I love how everyone jumps in to help!

The opening night festivities are so fun and full of energy. People gather from literally all over the world, and greet each other with hugs like old friends. I’ve said it once and will say it again this year…the food is AMAZING!! Friday night we are treated to a paper cone of awesome Belgian fries with delicious sauces, dished up right in the kitchen.

My husband Wayde and I manning our table in the vendor room

 There is always a jam on Friday night, and this year it was a blacklight jam! I didn’t get a chance to participate in this year’s jam as I was busy selling books and stencils in the vendor room, and the black light room filled up pretty full. But, it was fun to pop in and see what everyone was working on!

Saturday was amazing! I taught both jewelry and henna. My jewelry class was probably a bit too full for everyone to be able to fully enjoy as people were bringing more chairs into the room to squeeze in…that and me painting too small made it a little bit of a challenge, but the next time around it went much more smoothly! 😉 My apologies to my jewelry guinea pigs!!

My first jewelry class on Saturday

Tessa was my beautiful model!

 Tessa was a wonderful model! In my Sunday class I painted a giant gem on the back which was much easier for everyone to see. But my fabulous students made some pretty amazing gems on themselves in this class regardless!! This painting is obviously really exaggerated, but we did a gem, pearls and some other smaller gems in settings.

getting a closer look

Saturday’s henna class

Belinda Wurmitzer’s one stroke flowers

I attended Paula Southern’s calligraphy course on Sunday, too!

drinks with edible glitter!

my sketch

I was really lucky to have the chance to paint Marcel Verbeek…he and his wife Daisy are both body paint models and do an amazing job!! Other than my 11 year old son, and the pregnant bellies I’ve painted, the only time I’ve body painted on models has been this time, and 2016 at the Jamvention. They provide models for everyone who needs them which is amazing!!

Painting on Marcel

finished product!

photo by Wim Roelsma of Artishoot Fotografie

Wim Roelsma of Artishoot Fotografie was there this year taking amazing pictures!!!

photo by Wim Roelsma of Artishoot Fotografie

photo by Wim Roelsma of Artishoot Fotografie

I would have kept painting if it wasn’t getting so late by then, haha! I still had to wind my brain down, sleep, and teach another day!

Sunday morning they always take a group photo of everyone in attendance!

photo by Wim Roelsma of Artishoot Fotografie

I love walking around the grounds in the morning at the Jamvention…it’s such a gorgeous and peaceful setting! I have dozens and dozens of animal photos but I’ll spare you all of them, haha!

So many gorgeous views here!

Peacocks…so cool!

Jamvention location

Sunday I again taught both Jewelry and Henna…another great time with wonderful students!!

Teaching Jewelry on Sunday

Sunday’s jewelry class was much smaller and we were able to cover more things…

Note to self… larger jewel made a huge difference! We also talked about pearls, chains, making tiny diamonds and quick beads.

Some of my wonderful jewelry students and their gem paintings!

THE Belinda Wurmitzer attended my henna class too!

Henna students starting out with markers and some drills

I really can’t thank Willy and Jacklyn and their dedicated team enough for all the hard work they do behind the scenes to make this event such a huge success! 

Cheers!

Some of my favorite moments of the Jamvention were here in Willy & Jacklyn’s home…the conversations with people from all over the world were just fascinating and sometimes so hilarious my face hurt from laughing! What an honor to rub shoulders with so much talent!! I got to meet Andrea Benocci and the beautiful Elena…amazing body painter Raphaelle Fieldhouse and her super talented balloon artist husband Gary, incredible artist and calligrapher Paula Southern…and I laughed so hard with Belinda Wurmitzer… Jacklyn has this amazing ability to hand pick instructors from around the globe who just seem to click together right off the bat. Everyone I’ve met there has been so immensely talented, yet so humble and down to earth, it truly feels like one big, wonderful family. 

I can’t even explain how wonderful and energizing it is to be able to hang out with fellow artists who are passionate about the things you are passionate about. I guess this is why attending workshops and conventions is so important for artists like us. We don’t get to hang out with dozens of like minds every day, as if we were working on a team in a corporate office…as artists, and for many of us as sole proprietors of our businesses, it can get lonely. I am thankful for conventions like this, social media, and my local monthly jam sessions, for their ability to fill us up with fresh, creative energy and inspiration! 🙂

The Jamvention always runs right around our anniversary, so my husband and I had a wonderful time staying longer in Brugge and spending a day in Ghent to celebrate our 19th! I’ll pretty much teach anywhere in the world if I can turn it into a trip with my hubby or family! 😉 

THANK YOU Jacklyn and Willy, and your entire talented FIP team for all of your hard work and dedication, and congratulations on 10 years!!

Every year at this time I look back at my business and reflect on what has happened, record some of my business’ growth and milestones, and think about the year ahead! Here’s what happened in 2018!

January is usually when I start big projects, having completed the busy Christmas season and having some time before the spring/summer rush. I spent much of January and February really diving head first into painting realistic Jewelry. I also added a ton of new bling to the shop! February 1st also marked the release of the spring issue of Wet Paint Magazine!

March is when I completed my new book “Jewelry for Face & Body Artists,” and began shipping copies all over the world!

In July I got to do a really fun “Finding Nemo” themed belly painting! I LOVE painting bellies, though don’t do nearly as many as I’d like to! So, every one is really special and I always document them on my blog!

August is always a busy month with face painting gigs, but it now also starts off with the release of the fall issue of Wet Paint Magazine! Every magazine is a true labor of love. August is also the month when I work at a county fair, and this year was my 21st year in a row working county fairs…the last 6 have been at Carver County in Waconia, MN! It wasn’t my most profitable year, but a good and fun one nonetheless!

In October I held one of my Realistic Eyes workshops here in MN! It was a really great chance to share the class I taught in 2016 in Belgium with some local artists, just in time for our Halloween gigs! I also had the immense honor of traveling back to Belgium to teach at the 10th anniversary edition of the Jamvention! It was such a great time that I’m STILL working on the blog post recap of that…I’ll be sharing that very soon so stay tuned!

November 1st marked the release of the winter issue of Wet Paint Magazine, and the end of my first full year of circulation! While Wet Paint is a huge amount of work for me, it feeds so many of my passions…face and body art, writing, graphic design, photography, and sharing inspiration and instruction! I’m excited to see where Wet Paint goes in 2019! I also realized a long time dream in November with the release of my new stencils, Step it Up Stencils! I spent nearly an entire year fussing with a Silhouette machine, only to find that it simply does not have the cutting force needed to make stencils with the thickness and quality I desired. So, I bit the bullet and invested a huge amount of money in a Silver Bullet machine, made 100 stencils to donate to the Jamvention’s swag bags, and released them to the public in November!

December is always jam packed with Christmas gigs, and 2018 did not disappoint! I also was able to convince my sweet 10 year old to let me paint another ugly Christmas sweater on him for my Christmas cards. He did an awesome job, and we even won 2nd place in Paintopia’s annual ugly Christmas sweater competition! To top off the year, just before 2019 began I received a copy of Lake Minnetonka Magazine in the mail which featured my business, with several full color spreads including wonderful photos of my boys! We had a great time going downtown Minneapolis the month before for a professional photo shoot, and needless to say, they were pretty excited to see themselves in print! Now if only I could convince them that Mom’s magazine is just as cool…haha!

Over the past year I’ve hosted jams I believe every month except July and August, but this year we also did a couple “Gem Jams!” These were super fun and have gotten me really into making gem clusters.

I also spent countless hours putting together proposals and sending in applications for two concepts for booths at the Minnesota State Fair! Word on the street is that there is no way for any face painters to get into the fair as there is one small booth in the kids’ ride area that somehow has exclusivity. Of course being that the MN state fair drew over 2 million visitors in 2018, there is plenty of business there, and a huge untapped market for teens and adults, but time will tell whether more MN artists will get an opportunity to showcase their talents at their own fair!

I’m constantly adding new products to the shop, but this year I took on a couple new vendors/brands: Art Factory and Superstar paints! Stay tuned for more new items to fill our shelves in the coming months!

What a great year it was!!

Here are some of the articles I published on my blog this year:

The Value of a Sketch
4th of July Inspiration
What’s so special about Paintertainment?
Approaching Events that use Craft Paints on Skin

I also of course published a LOT of great articles in my monthly e-newsletters…download those here!

What’s to come in 2019?

In February I am super excited to be speaking again at the Minnesota Family Artists and Entertainers Business Conference in St Paul, put on by the one and only Lori Hurley! Those of us who live in the Twin Cities are SO fortunate to enjoy a wonderful and supportive community of artists, and this conference is like an awesome convention concentrate…short talks with just the good stuff from so many amazing local talents to help grow our businesses! The topics are literally tailored to what the attendees want to hear about, so there is no wasted time or money in attending.

I really have a head full of ideas for more Step it Up Stencils, so my hope is to develop, cut and release more designs this year!

I’ll of course continue putting out Wet Paint Magazine as long as I have an audience that enjoys them! (And maybe regardless, as I enjoy them so much myself!)

Over the past year I’ve gotten more and more requests for workshops, so I’d like to get a couple more of those on the calendar. I haven’t yet taught my Realism workshop in MN so may do that, and would love to teach my jewelry workshop from Belgium more around the US as well!

I have another technique based book that I started a while back but put on hold to create my Jewelry book, so I might re-visit that one, but will see how the year goes!

I always want to do more writing, but also want to do more YouTube videos this year!

I’d also love to just paint more…while I like the freedom of not HAVING to paint every single day, I do miss the creative outlet I had when I did a 365 day painting challenge in 2017. So, I’ve signed up to participate again in the Inspiration to Paint Facebook group for the month of January! I won’t do it every month just because I can only be stretched so thin, and want to keep it fun and not become a chore, but am looking forward to a fun month of painting and sharing!

In my dreams…

I always have a few lofty goals, though not entirely unattainable…in 2019 I’d really love to teach at and/or attend at least one convention in the US. The Jamvention has spoiled me a bit, as they cover ALL expenses of all their instructors, and even if they didn’t, flying there and attending their convention is cheaper than any in the US, but there are so many artists I really would love to meet, and would also love to enter a body painting competition…someday!! Way down the road I’d love to try painting on a cruise ship…I’m already a vetted and approved artist who can go at any time, but since they’ve changed the rules on bringing kids with you, I may not be able to until my kids are adults, unless I go it alone or leave them home with grandparents. Sigh…that one will have to remain lofty for a while!

I hope you all get a chance to look at your past year as well, and make some plans, hopes and dreams for the new year too! It doesn’t matter if you reach them all…the important thing is to have goals to work towards. Happy new year, and happy painting!!

-Gretchen