Category: GIGS

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Masquerade Masks!

I’ve had a couple requests in the past to paint groups of women before heading out for a masquerade themed bachelorette party.  Unfortunately none of them have panned out so I haven’t had the opportunity yet!  But, today I was inspired while browsing through a Google image search of Venetian masquerade masks and had to give it a try on myself…

This was really my first attempt at a mask, and boy am I ever blind when painting myself without my glasses on!  (And afterwards looking at photos, I’m always kicking myself for not putting on any makeup, pretty earrings, or something nicer looking than a sweatshirt, but oh well! It’s just practice!) I always have to literally paint in super slow motion when painting myself like this, so this one took about a half hour.  But, it turned out pretty cool in the end.  I had a lot of fun with my interferenz gold paint, metallic silver, and adding sparkly details with my Liquid Bling and also adhering some acrylic rhinestones with eyelash adhesive!

Once I get some more time to edit my other photos, maybe I’ll share the step by step process of this one too, if not here than on my free e-newsletter!

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Private Session: Father Frost & Mother Frost

I had the pleasure of painting “Father Frost” and “Mother Frost” on their way to a Halloween costume party last night!

Working on Mother Frost

For “Mother Frost” I used a mix of the regular Aquacolor paints (white & blues), and interferenz paints.  I used a little snowflake stencil which was pretty slick, and had fun adding details with a bottle of Mehron white Detailz paint and some Amerikan Body Art Liquid Bling in silver. She brought her own sparkly blue eyelashes which were very cool, and also put on some pretty blue & aqua eyeshadow and lips!

 For “Father Frost” I first covered his face and head in a base coat of Interferenz Silver mixed with a little bit of Aquacolor white, which gave him that frosty, pale look with some shimmer.  Then I used more interferenz blues around his eyes to add some drama with the frosty cracks and icicles around his eyes.  Aquacolor white made a nice snowflake on his cheek, but I added some blue around it to make it really pop!  The blue sparkly dots done with Amerikan Body Art Liquid Bling really added a lot when the light hit it as well! I also brushed a little interferenz blue in his beard too which worked well.  I’m kicking myself because I forgot to spritz his beard with a little Glitter Spray!  But, it all came out looking pretty cool! (pardon the pun!)

I have the joy of painting at Christmas parties each year for “Father Frost” when he plays Santa Carlucci.  “Mother Frost” plays a great “Cheryl Claus” at Christmas time and also made their incredible costumes.  Turns out they ended up winning first place in the costume contest at the party they attended, which was very cool and well earned as they put so much time and attention to detail into their costumes! Congrats, “Father & Mother Frost!”



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New Package Deal: The Charity Fundraising Kit!

I am pleased to announce yet another new product introduction to the Paintertainment online shop…the Charity Fundraiser Kit!  This kit was designed to help people raise money for various charitable causes, enabling someone with no experience face painting to achieve professional results without the high price tag of hiring an actual professional.  Click here for a video demonstration!

For just $23.99 (over a $2.00 savings versus buying each item individually) 
the kit includes:
• One #2 round brush for outlining
• One round makeup sponge, which can be cut in half to make two sponges
• 2.5 ounces of Kryolan Aquacolor makeup in the color of your choosing
• .5 ounces of Kryolan Aquacolor black makeup for outlines
• One ribbon design stencil from Snazaroo

Not sure what colors represent what causes?  I’m in the process of putting together my own color chart, but in the meantime, I really like this one put together by Fire Mountain Gems, a place I like to buy beads for jewelry making!

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Two of My Favorite Summer “Gigs!”

Now that things are barely settling down a bit, I thought I’d post some photos from a couple of my favorite annual gigs that were last week!

 My mom and I have been doing this outdoor concert together for the past few years at the Village at Mendota Heights. So far we’ve always lucked out with great weather!  There’s a cute grassy “square” outside where all the families gather to listen to children’s entertainment.  This year there was even a petting zoo!

a few happy customers!

My mom painting

 Then the next day I painted at another one of my favorite events to work at…the fall kickoff party at Virtuosos Music Academy in Plymouth! The past few years they’ve been including some of the other neighboring businesses and the event grows every year.  It is free and open to the public with wonderful live music by the students, karate demonstrations from the nearby karate school, and this year they even had free Starbucks, and some professional stylists from The Style Room styling and spraying kids’ hair fun colors!

some musicians performing from the music school

I had just a few minutes to paint my own arm when I started! I love doing the music related designs at this event.

My little portable face painting setup.  It all folds up and fits in the back of my VW Beetle!

A little father son arm painting!

There was a rush of “eye swirls” after everyone saw this one! I love how it matched her earrings!

It was a busy end to a busy summer, and I still have more events to paint at this September.  Business is booming and I’ve been having a lot of fun!  Before we know it I’ll be posting photos of Christmas gigs with Santa…gotta enjoy these summer days as long as we can!

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Dakota County Fair 2011 Recap!

Just yesterday my 14th Dakota County Fair week came to a close!  This year I didn’t blog as much because I couldn’t get the wifi to work there on my laptop.  And, by the time I got home at 11:30 pm, I was just too wiped to download, edit, and post pics!  But, now that I’ve had a chance to do that, I thought I’d share a few photos from the week.

 This photo above is me painting my 3.5 year old Sammy.  Behind me is my husband Wayde and our littlest, 1.5 year old Toby! My boys came along for the booth set-up and tear-down.  I couldn’t do the fair without my husband, who takes care of the boys while I’m there and is always super supportive of my business ventures! Also my mom, who took this photo, and splits up the days painting at the booth too, and my dad, who was a big help with tear-down night this year!

I actually enjoy some of the slow times during the fair days, because it gives me a chance to try out new ideas on my own arm and hands. Here are a few that I did this year…

The chicken was really fun!  I’ll let you all in on a little secret…I’ve been working on a new step-by-step book of really fun hand designs.  It’s almost ready to go to print, and will be available in the book section of my online store soon!

 Angry Birds were very popular new designs this year.  I thought I’d take it up a notch on my own arm, since I could work on it slowly between customers, and did this full scene above.

 Having a little fun with some paisley print!

Thought I’d try a full-body unicorn.  Usually I do a head/neck design on my board, but once I had this one on my arm, I did have a customer request it on hers too!

Another fun hand design!

For 2011 I added a nice display book of hand animals and full face designs.  Here are a few…

 Barbie eyes…always so freaky!  I had to take her photo to show her what it looks like since, for obvious reasons, you can’t just look at yourself in the mirror!

“Cheek Art” designs are what I do the most of by far, whether they are actually on the cheek or somewhere else on the body, like the arm…

 Many thanks to everyone who let me take their photo for my sample board!  I have a big board of photos in my display and people have fun looking for themselves the following year.  I always have fun seeing kids who are little on the board coming back as teenagers!
I’ll end the post with my cute, curly-headed little Toby.  Like many of the kids who stop by my booth, he loves my big mirror stand!
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First “Hand Design” at the Fair!

The 2011 Dakota County Fair is in full swing!!  Rollie Brandt kicked off Paintertainment’s 14th year yesterday in our booth just inside Exhibit Hall South (aka “Building 22”).  This year we have a whole new selection of full-face designs, as well as some really fun hand designs!  We haven’t done any full face designs yet, but will post when we do…here’s one fun hand design that Rollie did yesterday: a horse!  The initials are from this horse’s name.  These hand designs are super fun for kids as they can turn them into little puppets and make them talk.

Rollie will be out there at the booth all day today, and Gretchen will be painting tomorrow.  Come on out to the fair and see us…I don’t think the weather has been more perfect in my 14 years at the fair!

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Como Park with Rusty the Clown 2011

This afternoon I had the privilidge of working again at an annual picnic at Como Park through Rusty the Clown! I’ve been painting for this event for the past several years and it’s always so much fun to be around Rusty and his entourage of friendly clowns! On the left of Rusty is his daughter “Pumpkin” the clown.  I’m on the lower right and that’s my mom, Rollie Brandt, in the Spongebob shirt!

 This is Rusty with Sassie and Pumpkin!

This was the first event where I tested out some of my new hand animal designs, and they were a hit!  I did many snakes and sharks.  This was my first attempt at a hand bunny!  I’m looking forward to offering many more in events to come!

Here’s my mom painting
Pumpkin making balloon hats!

Isn’t this little girl the cutest?! I love painting the cherries, and with her dress, it was the perfect choice!
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Merry Christmas from Paintertainment!

We had yet another wonderful December of face painting at Christmas events!

 This was my 3rd year and my mom’s 1st year painting at the Village at Mendota Heights‘ “Mendota Lights” Christmas event!  Above is a photo of the carolers that roam the mall during the event.

 This was also my 3rd and my mom’s 2nd years painting at Axel’s restaurant on a golf course in Woodbury with Santa Carlucci! (My mom and Santa, above!) Doesn’t he have an amazing outfit?!

 Santa Carlucci can even bring his sleigh and real reindeer along.  Here is a family having their photo taken in the sleigh.

Santa sure has a way of drawing in the kids!

I also really enjoyed doing another private event inside a skyway above the Holidazzle Parade downtown, with both Santa AND Mrs. Claus!
I am very fortunate to be Santa’s face painter of choice when he is visiting Minnesota from the North Pole!  Thanks Santa, for another fun Christmas season!
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Dakota County Fair 2010 Comes To A Close…

Another Dakota County Fair has sadly come to a close!  I had a great time painting again this year. 

It’s definitely harder for me now that I have 2 kids, plus one who is still nursing, to be gone so much. But, I am very thankful to have had my mom painting with me again this year, so I could spend a few half-days and a full week day with my boys, knowing the booth was in EXCELLENT hands!

This year was our 2nd least profitable year…I think it was a combination of the extremely hot weather and the not-so-hot economy. Regardless, I always am glad I did it in the end.  While it makes me feel a little old, it’s fun to paint kids in 4th or 5th grade who have been painted every year since they were old enough to sit still!  It’s also a lot of fun to see faces from my past.  Every year is like a class/family reunion, spending a week in the county where I grew up.

For my last day at the fair, I decorated my arm with this eagle…a new design this year.  I added in the flag ribbon thingy.  😉

In addition to my fabulous artist mom, I couldn’t do this without my super supportive husband.  He really IS supportive, literally, as you can see here…supporting our 7 month old and my boards, tearing down the booth Sunday night!

He takes time off from his very demanding job as a director to be with our boys when I’m at the fair.  He even drove us from Ohio back to Minnesota for the fair every year for the 4 years we lived out there.  He does everything he can to support my business ventures, and I am so grateful!

I’ll close off my last county fair post for the year with a few shots that I took around the fair!

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Clowning Around at Como Park

I had a great time on Saturday painting with Rusty the Clown and his daughters, “Dotsy” and “Pumpkin,” at Como Park in St. Paul.  My mom and I have painted with them for this event for several years.  Rusty puts on a great magic show, and his daughters are a blast to watch as they entertain the kids with their balloon animals and bubbly personalities!

Here I am painting a princess crown on Pumpkin’s arm:

You may recognize her from my website, where you see a photo of me painting her ankle some years back! 

They are such a great bunch of people and I really enjoy it when I have the chance to work with Rusty.  I soon hope to add his information to my own website, where I will be able to offer his wonderful entertainment to clients as well!