Whew! Since the boys have gone back to school I’ve been busy busy busy catching up! I just sent out my FREE monthly e-newsletter last week. If you didn’t get your copy, please contact me…I have had a few emails bounce back lately.  Our Halloween shop is also now open, and our brand new glitter tattoo shop is growing!!  Check out all the new products available now!

I’ve also been getting in a little time to paint! Last week I hosted a belly paint jam, and you can see the work of myself and the other artists here.  But, here’s what I painted to enter in Illusion’s mask competition this month, wish me luck:

Inspired by the 10 years of piano lessons I took as a kid!

Last night I had another hand painting idea pop into my head as I was lying in bed, so I thought I’d give that one a try.

Art is in my bones!

Here’s a time lapse video of me painting this one! I like to call it, “Art is in my bones!”

I’m also gearing up for my hands-on workshop teaching “Realistic Eyes” in Belgium next month!! In preparation I put together another time lapse video of me painting an eye.  Click here to learn more about this workshop!

Thanks for stopping by, and happy painting!!

This week I hosted my first ever belly painting jam and it was a blast!!  In the end, 6 bellies were painted by 5 artists. One of the artists is also pregnant so she got to be a model, and then we had a couple more artists who just came to hang out, visit and watch!

Photos of the jam in action!

Artists came prepared with pot luck contributions and a design to paint! I also had an assortment of body painting magazines out for inspiration, with belly painting sections marked of course. Here are a few mini paintings that I did on the backs of my practice heads before the jam:

The back of your practice head is perfect for practicing bellies!

I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to find enough moms interested, but the numbers worked out just right.  The only catch for the moms to get a free belly painting was that they had to allow the artists to choose the design they want to paint (unless the artist lets them help pick), and then they signed model release forms allowing the artists to use photos of their work for promotional purposes.

The first painting I did was on my beautiful friend Andrea! She has 3 boys and is expecting a GIRL!

 The fox design was inspired by an illustration I found online.  For the background I laid down a base of pearl blue paint. I then brushed on a layer of the new Pixie Paints (“Blue Monday”) with a rake brush to give it a cool, chunky shimmer!  This is the first time I’ve used the pixie paints but they really worked great.  I then used a lollipop blender loaded with a white Mehron INtense Pro powder (lightening) and my BAM 1035 stencil to give the background some soft texture…

It was SO much fun to watch all the artists at work in my house!!  We had artists who have never painted bellies and those who have, but the beauty was that they all got to paint what they wanted, without the pressure of it being a paying client.  Belly paintings are expensive, they take a lot of time to create, and time to design beforehand.  They commemorate an unforgettable and life changing time in a woman’s life, and photos go into baby books forever, so there is always pressure to make them amazing! 

All the bellies painted at the jam!

Here is a great example to illustrate why I always start by having the model stand up while I sketch the design outlines, THEN I have her sit down…

…If you start painting while mom is sitting down, your design will turn into an egg shape when she stands up. As you can see above, the design looks squished while I’m starting it in the top photo, but then rounds back out when she stands up. 

Babies’ arms are chubby, so while I was painting I thought, “I need to add some more to that little arm!” Of course that was one moment I forgot about the squish factor…and when she stood up baby grew biceps! Oops! 😉 Sometimes the hard part is trusting your squished looking outlines while painting, and sticking to them! 😉

We were even fortunate enough to have a REAL photographer attend as well!! So, I may just be updating this post in the near future with some way better photos, ha!

If you’re interested in having YOUR belly painted, check out my belly page HERE! I also do belly henna as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy painting!!

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Well, I haven’t posted in a little while as I’ve just been crazy busy getting my boys back to school and catching up on the pile of work I’ve been saving for when the boys get back to school! 😉 But among the craziness I’ve been adding a lot to the shop!

We are now offering glitter tattoos and supplies! Check out this entire new section, where you’ll find tattoo stencils, an expanded assortment of glitter, adhesive, brushes, tweezers, alcohol wipes, mica powder, & glitter storage solutions!

We’ve expanded our assortment of glitter colors!

oh so many tattoo stencils…this is just one! 😉

We have tweezers in pointed and this slanted style to help you grab those tiny loose pieces of stencil film!

More new options for storing your loose glitters…

Empty lip gloss containers you can refill with body glue!

Body glue too of course! (order now before it dips below freezing here in MN!)

Mica powder for those pesky anti-glitter clients! 😉

Brushes ideal for freehand glitter tattoos, sturdy enough to stand up to body glue and alcohol!

Eyeshadow crease brushes are fluffy enough to pick up lots of glitter when using stencils! We have two sizes!

 

Long handled kabuki brush for brushing away loose glitter

Alcohol wipes, perfect for cleaning the skin before applying tattoos!

And have you seen the new Pixie Paint by Amerikan Body Art?  AH-mazing. I finally had a chance to try some out the other night on a couple belly paintings, and I’m in love.  Some new products you think are really cool, but you’ll maybe use them on 1 or 2 designs and it’ll end up just another thing taking up space in your kit.  This stuff…well, let’s just say I’m going to have to hold myself back from putting it on EVERYTHING.  It glides on beautifully with a fan rake brush, and it’s just so fun to watch the trail of bright, chunky glitters appear, staying right where you put them! Want even more glitz and opacity? Simply poof, dab, or spray on more cosmetic glitter while the aloe gel is still wet!

1 oz jars of Pixie Paint, available in 6 colors for $6.99 each!

Last night I hosted a belly painting jam which was a BLAST! So stay tuned for photos from that! Until then, thanks so much for stopping by and happy painting!  🙂

I see a lot of YouTube videos of thorough, step by step tutorials. These are GREAT for learning and perfecting new designs!! But they are slowed down a lot for explanations and don’t give you an idea of how long the design will take at an actual job.

I also see a lot of SPED UP, time lapse videos.  These are really fun to show how a design comes together from start to finish, especially intricate designs that take a long time to paint. But these often are not the kind of designs you can do on the job when you have a long line.

I have published videos of both these types on my channel. However, there seems to be a lack of videos out there of face painting being done in REAL TIME, and at REAL GIGS.  That is where the idea for this next video was born from!

In this video you can see me painting some of my cheek art designs, on the job, during my busiest day of the county fair.  Yes, I do a lot of awesome full face designs too!  But I’ve decided to record myself doing cheek art to help dispel some myths out there that cheek art is way more time consuming than full faces, because it doesn’t have to be.  In these videos I am not going all out and embellishing on the designs (which I sometimes do if there is no line), but at the same time, I am not rushing myself at all. This is my normal pace, and most of my cheek art designs take less than 2 minutes.  Many are around 1 minute.

Cheek art really CAN be cute, quality, and FAST when you get the technique down!! This is what I have been attempting to teach in my “Achieving Detail with Speed” workshops, and in my next book! Check out the video below, or watch it here on YouTube. Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel while you’re there!

Thanks for stopping by, and happy painting!

This year was my 19th year painting at county fairs…my 4th year at Carver County Fair in Waconia!  I really love this fair.  It’s the only fair I do all year, and is my “home” fair, just 20-25 minutes from home.  My boys enter their artwork in the fair every year, and I spend my one afternoon off taking them to visit the fair while Grandma paints at my booth!  I’ve been working at this fair long enough now to recognize many faces who come back every year to get painted, and enjoy seeing so many of my friends who visit the fair every year!

This year was another good year at the fair. I had some fun with my GoPro camera, filming myself painting and the crowds flowing through on my busiest day: Saturday! Check it out below or here on YouTube!

Here are a few photos!

The Booth all set up and ready to go!

new cabinet for 2016!

My paints set up on the countertop

I also got a new banner this year…ordered at the last minute as I was waiting for Vistaprint’s 40% off sale! But, it did arrive in time for the 2nd day of the fair!

Invisible glove is my friend at the fair! Fair week has always left me with hands that are stained for a week after. This stuff works great…you just have to remember to put a little more on after you wash your hands, which I do constantly with wipes! Find it in the shop, here!

I always love painting my arms up big for the fair. It was busy enough I didn’t have a chance to do this every day, but here’s what I did on myself this year:

 

 

Love seeing this face peek over my shoulder during the fair!

cheese curd break with Toby!

My mom is always a big help at the fair!!  When I started working full time as a designer, she helped me keep my booth by working weekdays while I came at night and on weekends.  When I left my corporate gig and started having babies, she helped me with some of the days so my husband didn’t have to take off work.  She worked Thursday until 7 pm, giving me a chance to catch up on other work and actually attend the fair with my boys! (yes, I spend my slice of time off visiting the fair, haha!)  12 hour days do a number on you after a while so it’s nice to get a little break in there!

My boys visiting Grandma in the booth!

Here are some paintings that my mom did…

paintings by Rollie Brandt

I always have my faithful trio of strong men to help tear down the booth on the last day of the fair…

…thanks again for another amazing year, Carver County! Hope to see you in 2017! 🙂

I am thrilled to be teaching a hands-on workshop, “Realistic Eyes,” at the JAMvention in Belgium this fall! I will continue to update this post as I receive more information on the convention schedule.

Check out this time lapse video of me painting a realistic eye.  This is what we will cover in my hands-on workshop, only we will slow this down greatly of course!

Together we will break down each component of the human eye, and I will give you practical tips and steps to make each component look as realistic as possible.  I will explain how to make your eyelashes look believable, your iris have depth, and your overall eye look shiny and wet. You will learn to identify and master the most overlooked features, from the shape of the white reflections in the eye, to the complex textures of the iris.

Learning to notice the details and incorporate them together in your artwork will give you the most realistic eyes possible.  Many of the elements we will discuss can be carried over into your animal eye paintings as well!  Prepare for your artwork to stare right back at you! See you at Jamvention!

Yes, indeed folks, today is cow appreciation day!! So, naturally, I had to paint cows on my boys.  They picked the designs they liked from my sketchbook.

The addition of teeth, braces, and a toothbrush were a last minute crazy idea I had, but it made Sam laugh so I did it! Silver liquid bling made for some really awesome braces!

Toby wanted brown spots on his cow, “Cuz brown cows make chocolate milk, Mom!”

Here are a few of the other designs I’ve done lately, if you haven’t been keeping up with me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram (paintertainmentdotcom) lately….

Paw Patrol

Marshall from Paw Patrol

My boys on the 4th of July

Max from “Secret Life of Pets”

Snowball from Secret Life of Pets

Have you checked out our custom word menu design service lately?  If not, you should! We’ve recently added more patriotic themed designs, great for 4th of July (well, next year anyway!) and Memorial Day! I’ve also just created a new word art for “Emoticon!

Word menus are a great way to give yourself flexibility with level of detail, as well as allow creative freedom when working with multiple artists.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy painting!!

I know I’ve already posted a step by step video this morning, but I have one more for you! These were my first attempts at filming myself painting step by step, so of course I had to be EVEN and paint each one of my boys once! 😉

In this video you’ll see how I paint my super popular and simple Lego man design! I mean, toy brick man design!!! 😉  This time I’m painting on my 6 year old Toby…he’s a funny guy with a lot to say, who thinks I don’t see what he’s doing in the camera when I turn away.  Well, at least he’s entertaining! The mirror moment in this one is totally lackluster as he has already had this design painted on him before! 😉

I hope you enjoy this video, and I plan on improving the quality of these as I do more and learn as I go! Don’t forget to check out my huge pages full of FREE learning resources. Thanks for hangin’ in there with me, and happy painting!

 

Hey everyone! I’ve just uploaded a new step by step video of the design shown above!  This one comes out just in time for your 4th of July gigs. Go easy on me, folks…this is my first attempt to film a step by step so you may see my head in the way once or twice, ha ha!

Super quick and fun fireworks!!

Retro bike done by myself on myself!

Dory

Nemo!

What else is going on at Paintertainment.com?

New Brushes
We’re in the process of swapping out some brushes as Loew-Cornell has decided to discontinue my FAVORITE brushes with acrylic handles and golden taklon bristles. Booohoo!!  They are still making the same brushes with the same bristles, just taking away the acrylic handles and only selling the wood.  So, if you visit our brush section you may notice some of the 7000C series brushes being replaced with 7000 series as they run out.

FREE e-Newsletters
It feels like just last week when our popular and FREE e-newsletter went out last month (and with a coupon code of course!), but amazingly enough, July is just around the corner! Watch your email for your July issue coming within the next week or so! And if you aren’t a subscriber yet but would like to be, visit our e-newsletter page to subscribe and download past issues! We never, EVER share your email addresses and don’t abuse our email list with spam.

Upcoming Events
I’ll be hosting yet another jam next month, so if you live in or around the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota, we’d love to have you join us! Bring your supplies, something from your inspiration file that you’d like to work on, and a dish to share for lunch!  We’ll even set up a new/used paint sale/swap as well for anyone looking to unload supplies they no longer use.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Stay tuned as I have another step by step video coming, just around the corner!! Be sure to subscribe to us on YouTube so you don’t miss out!

I have a few new items added to the shop today to tell you about! Scroll down for some of my latest paintings recently posted on Facebook, too! 🙂

We’ve just added a new one-touch dispenser bottle. This one is a new and improved design over the old one…you can twist the top and lock it into place to prevent it from leaking/pumping when in transit! These bottles are great for henna, when you need to dispense a little alcohol onto a cotton swab/pad with just one hand! Find them here for $2!

You can also find these awesome new bottles that spray fine glitter and powders!! I’ve heard a lot about these on Facebook groups and had to get them into my shop. The unique mechanism inside helps gather powder/glitter toward the center tube for maximum dispersion. Find them here for just $3.75!

Last but not least, we’re now carrying a new option for sharpening your makeup pencils. These little dual sharpeners are a fraction of the price of the Mehron ones, still have two sized sharpeners, and are made of metal! Get yours here for just $1.25!

Well, I don’t want to just give you products without posting a little paint inspiration…here are a few pics I’ve posted on Facebook lately…be sure to “like” us to get all the latest!

Trying out a new variation on the Ninja Turtles…

Pete the Cat!

My son loves Fly Guy books!!

My rendition of the Death Star! You can find this cool texture stencil in the HAS-Mechanical set!

Kylo Ren! Get this look using the BAM1019 flame stencil or the HotWings 8007 Stencil!

Thanks for stopping by, and happy painting!