FairyDust Faces

A Preschool, a University and an Art Park...

2011-05-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

what could those three things have in common? Well they were the first (almost) solo events for Intern Sara. We started her off with Keiser University where she rocked it with a million butterflies and kitty cats. She kicked it up a notch -- supervision free -- at Tiny Steps preschool, where she painted tiny foot prints on all the little cherubs at school then learned -- trial through fire style -- how to put up a booth and create whatever the client wanted out at Railroad Square art park (one of our favorite places) Sara is meeting and exceeding all our expectations and we are happy to introduce her to all our friend this weekend at our next event with Moms Time Out. Come out and look for her and give her a big thumbs up for all her awesome work!

Panacea Blue Crab Festival

2011-05-10T10:56:00.000-07:00

Interesting day filled with fish throwing and crab picking...

Last weekends Festival

2011-04-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots from last weekends festival in Sopchoppy

NorthBeach San Francisco

2010-06-27T16:05:00.000-07:00

Had some fun at San Francisco's world-famous North beach festival! Clementine brough a young friend who we painted zombie eyes and a smile on and sat next to the booth.

Union Street San Francisco

2010-06-27T16:02:00.000-07:00

we face painted at the Union Street festival a few weeks ago, and I painted the youngest full face tiger in my career. We used starblend powders for the base since I didnt know how still the little guy would sit but he was a champ! Only one wiggle when we got to the wet paint. Mom and dad were so pleased he came back for a second day and was done up as a dragonfly...

We Love Repeat Face Paint Party Clients!

2010-05-09T21:32:00.001-07:00

We face painted and did glitter tattoos for a 3rd birthday party this weekend. I love this family, they have us back every year! This dude is one of my favorite subjects he always chooses the best things...this year scary rabbit with huge green 'people' eyes...

Also we worked on 'princess kitty' influenced by Rebecca of Arty Brush Strokes in S. Cal

Vacaville Medieval Fantasy Festival

2010-05-02T21:38:00.001-07:00

Its been a busy last several weeks. First the Vacaville Medieval Fantasy Festival. Which was one of those darling little community events, casual and a nice flow of fun people. We will definitely be going back next year.

here are a couple of my favorite shots of the day!

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2010-04-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

5 tips for great parties

2010-04-11T23:15:00.000-07:00

My son is in kindergarten and while this means several things; such as the necessity to find matching socks and pack sack lunches the school administration will approve of it also means that he will be invited to roughly 19 birthday parties…plus the one we throw ourselves.

In fact I am sitting at the second of three scheduled for this spring break. You see with birthday party etiquette when one is in kindergarten you invite the WHOLE class as strong individual likes...and dislikes haven’t really been formed yet, you either invite all 20 or you make it gender specific; you hold a tea party just for the girls or you hold a nerf war birthday just for the boys. But chances are you are destined to be inviting more than a basketballs team worth of kids for your offspring's special day.

So what are you going to do!? Do you play the one-ups-manship game and match the parties already having been thrown by the mothers of the classmates?

Do you take the easy – yet expensive way out and all head off to the local jumpy house venue or do you go the old fashioned yet unique way of a traditional backyard party?

Either choice is rife with pitfalls. Woe be unto you party thrower who doesn’t have enough to entertain the kids, or those of you who provide lack-luster activities that no one can remember by the time the kids reconvene at school.

Is there a sure fire way to personalize and add a shot of adrenaline to juniors party – I mean without letting them get tattoos of their favorite nick toon?

Yes, possibly there is...eschew cookie cutter parties, just say no to corporate party land, embrace a theme! Decorate with home grown ideas in your childs chosen theme. Carry the idea over to party favors, I mean REAL party favors. Send the kids home with potted flowers from your garden party theme, a small remote control car from your race theme party.

Don’t load my kid up with plastic magnifying glasses or spinning tops that are just fodder for the vacuum cleaner. Stuck for a theme? Ask your child's teacher what the current unit in school is, there is certainly an idea there (this month my sons kindergarten is studying plants, butterflies and has had a guest artist who works in ceramics come in – all of which would be great themes!)

Yes, it takes more thought. It possibly might be as expensive as a jumpy house but you will be off the Richter scale when it comes to the coolness factor. It will be a party to remember

5 steps to the worlds best party

1. Employ a theme and carry it all the way through from invitations to thank you notes
2. Money does not a good party make. Instead try ingenuity and creativity
3. Send them home when theyre still happy. This means don’t go too long. If they are bored, asking to go home or causing problems its already too late
4. Feed me! It’s a scientific fact that kids with low blood sugar are not fun party guests
5. Activities. Think about when the guests arrive, make sure there is something for them to engage in – better yet some activity to get them interacting! If your budget can afford it consider novelty entertainment, better yet work it with your theme. Hire a face painter to paint butterflies, flowers or puppy dogs. Have the local reptile show come in and introduce your kids to iguanas and geckos. Have a magician or mad scientist give a command performance, think novel, think theme, think fun.

VOTE now; bring storytelling to local schools

2010-04-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

**storyteller**

karen b.

Storytelling...

2010-04-06T12:57:00.000-07:00

some of you may know we began adding storytelling to our menu of services earlier this year. Im happy to report its been going great! I am enrolled in a professional storytelling course with Stagebridge in oakland and will be included in a presentation in Berkeley next week!

We have also been telling stories the first Saturday of the month at Millers Candy Emporium downtown Sebastopol and we have had an ongoing storytelling date with the second grade at Gravenstein Elementary School.

Be looking for us at some events later this summer with our 'magic storytelling bag' (where all good stories come from!) Also be on the lookout for some possible news regarding storytelling and a grant from Prilosec OTC

Las Vegas Body Painting Article in Las Vegas Weekly

2010-02-24T17:36:00.000-08:00

Very cool article in Las Vegas Weekly.

http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2010/feb/17/if-you-paint-it-they-will-come/

Here is my favorite paragraph:
The energy level was higher on the last day, as was the creativity. And the temperature—even the models held towelettes under their pits to keep sweat from smearing paint. Though the final presentation ran very late, it was worth the price of a Red Bull to discover that most of the models were dancers too, performing choreography ranging from Balinese ritual to robot moves, showgirl tease, MMA, nunchuk demonstrations, contortion and mime. One artist even sang her model’s accompaniment a capella.

The singer was Rachel from Hawaii. Apparently her sound wasnt cued right and after coaxing her model out to the stage she belted out her description of her work -- totally spontaneously. Rachel rocked the house!

10 tips for Body Painters; or what are the judges REALLY looking for

2010-02-24T00:05:00.000-08:00

What are the judges really looking for? That was a question many fresh-faced competitors were asking each other during the North American Body Painting Championships inaugural gathering in Las Vegas during February. Curious contenders could find the scoring matrix on the NABPC web site. Judges would award up to 150 points equally distributed between the categories of originality, creativity, design flow, use of color, application and total design. Unfortunately little more was known by novice painters and the judges certainly weren’t giving away any secrets!

In an effort to help illuminate and educate body painters everywhere the following list has been culled from a variety of sources, including experienced competitors, past judges, as well as first-hand experience.

1. Don’t paint the obvious. Type your given theme into a browser search and bypass the first several pages. You will never be noticed if you design the same ‘wild life’ or ‘tropics’ theme as everyone else.
2. Keep in mind that 75% of your ‘work zone’ happens from the hips to the shoulders, devote the appropriate time there.
3. Work a wide variety of skills into your piece. Add elements that show your depth and ability, think about shadows, perspective, reflections and the way that images layer on top of each other. Don’t be a one-trick pony.
4. Consider an unexpected element for a longer ‘visual ride.’ Both Yolanda Bartram’s NABPC pieces had a ‘surprise ending’ only revealed when the model was in a certain position.
5. Move the judge’s eye seamlessly from one area of the body to another through an element of color or form.
6. Incorporate those places humans naturally look; breasts and bottoms. Make them part of your overall design, don’t make them the reason d’être but don’t pretend they aren’t there with a wash of a single color.
7. Color is king. As a general rule pieces with a limited palette don’t place on the podium. Think in terms of a rainbow of possibilities!
8. Flawless blending and crisp, confident line work are mandatory.
9. Sell your work! Be excited and passionate about your piece. Have a reason you’ve selected the elements you have chosen, spin the judges a story of how your piece perfectly reflects the theme. Confidence is contagious and can only work in your favor.
10. Accessories do make an impact. While you are not officially judged on false eyelashes, fingernails, contact lenses, fangs, shoes or headpieces ours is a subjective art and everything we do has the ability to affect the overall impression of our work.

And a bonus suggestions: Be prepared with a written statement about your piece as well as music selected specifically to fit your painting. Your model will likely be asked perform, or at the minimum present your work on stage. This is your showcase, the public pay-off of the long hours, the sweat, anguish and tears you gave this one brief moment in the sun – be prepared enough to enjoy it!

Bella Volen Body painter: Las Vegas Convention

2010-02-18T15:04:00.000-08:00

Hopefully Bella's link will work for you. It didnt for me but i want to give you an opportunity to experience what this woman was about. Bella has a masters in fine arts and is so much more than a body painter. She combines body art with the aesthetic, architecture and symbolism. She says she does 'trasformations'

Yes, you can appropriately read into this that her body art is much more than where the paint meets the skin, as she's thought long and hard about her work. As a third generation artist who has been painting for 50 hours per week since she was 12 years old in her native Bulgaria, Bella embodies her art....

Bella gave her Las Vegas class an overview of body art from early peoples to its raucous teenage years during the free love 1960's then she gave us a glimpse into how she works as she painted the model above. One of the biggest ideas I picked up during her presentation was the fact that black can be too powerful, too heavy, and can create visual holes in your work. You are much better off to use two complementary colors mixed to a dark color. Color wheel complements will create a 'living dark' color, not a dead, flat black. Bella earned a fourth place finish during the recent North American Body Painting Championships

a quote from her FaceBook fan page

Body painting is unique and very old. I love it because it is alive: the painted body can move, dance, sing. From human skin you can create a 3D illusion, an alien, a building, you can express feelings, a whole world, and this world will exist for a few hours, will stay in your mind, and then it will disappear into the running water.

At the beginning my body paintings were more decorative than my paintings.
Many of them were made for competitions. Now I am only interested in
the creation itself. I was creating androgynous art and I still do. The difference is
that now I work much more on the concept, the idea behind and I like to play with
the space around, so the body will be a part of the whole atmosphere. At the moment
I do not just paint on bodies. I do contemporary body transformations.

Las Vegas Face Painting Convention

2010-02-18T13:10:00.000-08:00

Holy moly! what a whirl wind last week. FairyDust Faces; Face Painting and Body art went to Las Vegas for some of the finest instruction, competition and fellowship on the west coast. My week started off with the bad boys of face painting, the rock stars of the body art world -- the Evil Twins of transformation, Nick and Brian Wolfe...santa Rosa can expect to see something new this season, take a look at the day long class had to offer:

Their class was 'How to paint like a Wolfe" and they covered some of their basics, from theory and adaptation of basic boy and basic girl design to a few often requested pieces of cheek art. Here is a new skull and unicorn.

then, true to Wolfe style we did full face boy pieces. This is also the base for skulls and monsters

Here is a picture of a classmate and some friends....

Face Painting + Storytelling

2010-01-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

This last weekend was a busy time for the story telling / face painting component of FairyDust Faces party packages. With our new theme parties clients can choose one of seven different types of parties. Everything from a princess party, to a monster party or even an interactive story telling presentation!

And this weekend was a busy time for the story teller at FairyDust Faces. On Friday there was a continuing education class at Stagebridge in Oakland, Saturday was a private story telling party on the golf course in San Rafael with the weekend being topped off by a face painting / story telling presentation at the Martin Luther King celebration at the Wells Fargo Center for Performing Arts in Santa Rosa.

It was a fairly heady feeling being on the stage in the main auditorium with all the kids at the conclusion of the program. The rear of the stage was filled with a choir of about 60 strong and they finished with a tribute to MLK of “I will overcome”…pretty powerful stuff

FairyDust Faces
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Happy New Year

2010-01-10T19:09:00.001-08:00

At the start of 2010 its time to get squared up again. So for the first post this year I want to consider volunteers and volunteering to face paint at events. Many professional entertainers have lots of thoughts on volunteers and volunteering themselves.

These considerations run the gamut from having untrained and/or unskilled volunteers working and taking a job that could possibly go to a trained individual to having a volunteer painter do actual ‘damage.’ Most often this is by having the volunteer use materials that aren’t for use on the skin, the child having a bad reaction and then being afraid to have their face painted again. This can be exacerbated by the well meaning parent reminding a child ‘don’t you remember how hard it was to get it off/how much it itched/the rash you got etc should the child want to be painted again.

This of course has the unintended effect of putting the professional in a position to try and explain what good and bad products are, often during a busy festival or under a time pressure. Sometimes the parent relents and the child is painted, sometimes they agree to a patch test but sometimes the parent assumes the entertainer is just trying to make that extra buck and isn’t being truthful.

I encourage parents to give it a try if they don’t have the resources to hire a professional and I also direct them to quality products and recommendations on where they can buy them online or at local retailers. The internet is a wealth of information and a motivated parent should be encouraged to seek out the info they need.

As a business we do donate to some very specific charities during the course of the year. We also offer a nice non-profit discount to other charities once our limit oif volunteer events is full. In 2010 we will again be donating in-kind services to various organizations and have just completed our first event, a post-holiday party with Bob Burke’s Kids, an organization that helps terminally ill children and their families in Sonoma County California. These kids are battling cancer and other serious illnesses: http://www.bobburkeskids.org/ the pink tiger and floral crown were done on teenage boys connected with the special Olympics. We were also blessed to paint several *fabulous* teens with Downs syndrome

This month we will also be doing a story telling/face painting presentation in honor of Martin Luther King JR. http://eventful.com/santarosa/events/martin-luther-king-jr-annual-birthday-/E0-001-027187243-7

2009-09-17T09:27:00.001-07:00

Next week off for a face painting convention! A must attend experience -- http://ping.fm/hBvGt

2009-08-14T19:18:00.001-07:00

brilliant ideas on diversity -- as told in a story format
http://ping.fm/q3v8T

painting at Rohnert Park Gymnastics

2009-07-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

Took some time at the end of last week and painted at Rohnert Park Gymnastics. The kids were allowed to pick from pages of things I HADN’T done before…so these are all new ideas for me. I painted two sisters who looked like twins bu weren’t. Actually when the second one came and sat down I had to ask her if she had a sister out on the gymnastics floor since I knew I wasn’t seeing double. She said they werent twins but people always assume they are. What do you think…twins? Also tried a new unicorn since Im looking to do a different one from my standard and have been meaning to do this warrior helmet forever….Of the 3 siblings who wanted it was the girl who wanted it in ‘girly’ colors of blue and pink vrsus grey and green. It was pretty good for the first go-round. Also painted that day were rainbow spidermen….

2009-07-08T00:57:00.001-07:00

July 5
Ive just crash landed back at HQ after another all day event. Today Miles and I were at Penngrove park for their 34th annual hometown parade. It was a long day that started with the perfect storm of horribleness for Roger. I took the van with all the set-up in it and he took the kids in the station wagon. As he got out the driveway he realized he didn’t have enough gas to make it to the park, so stops at the gas station…where he realizes his tire is FLAT. So he goes back home to air up the tire only to find the air chuck (or whatever) has gone missing so he has to go to another gas station to air up. Ok; gas, air….then the daughter says ‘daddy…’ and he turns around and promptly barfs all over herself and begins to cry. Ack! Back home and into the shower…about that point I call and ask where he is as Ive had to lug all my stuff and try to set up the tent and the humongous weights all by myself.
I soldier on and he washed the daughter and appears down at the park a half hour later. Miles stays with me and we finish the set up. He is continuing his education as line manager (still working on customer service skills) but he got to see the parade up close and catch candy as they went by (kind of like a mobile piñata!) we were pretty hoppin after the parade ended all the way up until about 15 minutes before the closing time – even though there was another ‘free’ face painter volunteering for her church.
I talked to bunches of old-timer penngovians, some of whom have only ever moved 5 miles away from where they were born!
I finally smartened up and let Miles wield the camera as I always have the best of intentions but hardly ever break long enough to snap anything.
We stopped at some fast food on the way home and he talked me into giving him 10 minutes at the toy store with half his pay for the weekend. He came out with some nerf dart gun (yeah…not) and then on to home – where approximately 2 hours later he now has the barfs…oh joy

2009-07-08T00:52:00.000-07:00

July 4
Big event at the Santa Rosa Fairgrounds tonight. We loaded in at 2 and the event began at 4. Clementine did the airbrushing and I face painted. Miles had his debut as line manager. He was assisted by Wentir and while I still need to work on his customer service skills I was really freaked out to find long after the fact that Wentir (possibly with his help) made change for a $100 bill. Eeckk! But the numbers seemed to have worked out so I guess its ok.

The big seller of the night was my swirls and curls with added stars and stardust which is an adaptation of the usual swirl and curl but in patriotic color. I couldn’t believe it we only did 2 spidermen, 1 butterfly and 1 skull face the entire night! I’ll attach the other big sellers.

The only other bauble of the evening was that 'The Friendly Competition' showed up just before the doors opened and they were not happy to find us there. She walked right up and said ‘we have a problem.’ However it appeared that they were not given an exclusive as she didn’t claim it – although they said they spoke to the organizer no fewer than 4 times and he didn’t volunteer that there would be other body artists in attendance. She and her companion elected to move their set up next to the line for the jumpy house and I believe they did fine.

I know we had to turn people away as we could no longer see as it was just past 8:30 and the light was going. Roger did a great job in closing the line (relieved the kids) and sending the ‘overflow’ to the clowns. He was very proper and asked the clowns if they would still be working before he sent them down. We did pretty well, we had fun, saw fireworks, got the van run into by another vendor and got to bed very late.

Oh.. the van? We were loading out and the neighbor dude had a suburban and a uHaul….scritch…uHauls fender was dragged down the drivers door. We still don’t know how bad/what kind of damage there is.

First Friday on 4th

2009-07-08T00:50:00.000-07:00

July 3
Tonight was the First Friday on 4th in Downtown Santa Rosa. I had some problems getting and keeping staff (both models and painters) so we opted to just offer face painting and henna. Rogers contribution to the evening was to advise me if it was something he could do (like a glitter tattoo) it wasn’t art  and to only bring out things that required skill…we camped next to Mike again. This guy just really doesn’t like kids and well, mine are pretty high maintenance so I kept encouraging them to go play elsewhere…The 4 hours went by pretty darn slowly but I did meet the new ‘administration’ young gal Tara and funny sidekick Ty. They seem like they will be more open to doing something a little more...'interesting'…although the first words out of his mouth were “so, youre not going to cause any trouble this month are you?” I assured him that especially tonight I wouldn’t cause trouble.
I did a few face paintings and a henna for a young mom and her two little boys. They would be separated for a week so they wanted matching henna froggies. Unfortunately no pictures!!

2009-07-08T00:47:00.001-07:00

July 2
Farmers market tonight! Today’s special was a $1 discount for red, white and blue designs…and doncha know it I only sold one (and then dad tipped the ‘saved’ dollar) I really wanted to push the patriotic designs – I wore one myself – as I will be doing these all rest of the weekend. We start with a downtown Santa Rosa booth tomorrow day/evening then the Fairgrounds on Saturday for the big fireworks show and then Sunday for an old fashioned hometown parade!

PICTURES?

2009-07-03T00:07:00.000-07:00

didja ever wonder why there were no pictues on this blog so far? I sure did...my other blog here: http://fairydustfaces.posterous.com/ has oodles of them. But somehow I never got them here. UNTIL NOW.... lets give it a whirl shall we?

FREE Henna Class through the Sonoma County Library System

2009-07-02T23:58:00.000-07:00

June 29
Free Henna class in Petaluma today. The class was a BIG one with 23 kids. And it wasn’t that the number was really that big but the tables were in long rows. I really need to re-think my set up.

The librarian was really into it (which is always nice) and she brought a pile of books with mehndi and henna and travel books, and kids story books with pictures and everything. It was a good group but I didn’t get to spend the attention on them that I can when theres only 12 or so. The bummer of the day was that 2 bottles of henna went missing….

We have 5 more classes to go, the next being in Santa Rosa on July 8 – I expect the remaining classes to also be big as both the library and I are really pushing the classes!

Private Parties all over town!

2009-07-02T23:56:00.000-07:00

June 27
2 words..HEAT WAVE. I was about a million degrees today. Clementine was booked out to do the Sonoma County Museum’s Family Fun Day and then a party in Windsor…and she was hot.

I had a private party (kindergarten graduation) in Petaluma and then my girl scout troop was graduating so we had our own pool party (so I wasn’t quite as hot) The day was capped off my doodling henna on co-leader Jen…Apparently she had never had henna before!

2009-07-02T23:44:00.000-07:00

June 26
Free face painting for Howarth park movie night. I have a soft spot for this event as it was one of the first ones I ever did. Last year I refined my offerings that I offer several movie theme designs for ‘tips’ and the rest are regular farmers market prices.

The movie was Ghostbusters so the designs were slimmer, the ghostbuster logo as well as Marshmallow man…geez, its been years and years since Ive seen the movie so I had to research these! Slimer was pretty easy, a green blob! Add details and hes done. The logo was only a little more complicated – and no one wanted Marshmallow man :( but it seemed pretty easy to do. And when all was said and done – even though the turn out was small, the jumpy people weren’t there and the ponies weren’t discounted I did pretty well.

As a bonus Zane ran into a few little friends and he and Bentley got to run around with them including going on the train and paddle boats while I worked, a perfect summers evening, fun was had by all!

2009-06-27T10:10:00.001-07:00

June 24
Wow. These teens in the henna class are just blowing me away! This last group of 12 kids was so into it and talented it was amazing! We even had one young man, only 12 years old who did the most intractie geometric glove Ive ever seen a kid do. Talk about patience and persistence! The librarian was great too. There was a factoid I was stumbling on and she went off and researched it while I taught (how cool is that!) In case youre wondering ….in the Jewish faith you can not be truly clean with a barrier between your skin and God, hence nail polish can not wadu with that layer of polish on your fingernails. Conversely, henna goes into your skin (top layers) is all natural and water can cleanse the skin directly so Mehndi can be worn by Jews in prayer…
Next stop on the Henna tour is Petaluma. Ive spoken to the librarian and she thinks we’ll have a good turn out and says the class is being reviewed very well (yay!)

2009-06-26T22:51:00.001-07:00

June 22
FairyDust Faces was in Windsor this afternoon with a rockin bunch of kids. 13 in all including 2 boys. The work that came out of this group was stellar! As an added bonus they even laughed at my jokes. There were a few that were very studious and sketched out their entire design first and those that just went right ahead and put henna to skin. There was a set of 3 siblings that kept the class lively and giggling. The low point of the class was my camera died before any of the students had completed their masterpieces. The highlight of the class (other than the fabulous work) was there was a girl who wanted to know more about me, and my business who seemed so taken with the idea of henna and body art. She wanted to know if I had a store she could come shop and look at things (alas, no) I did direct her to the web site and if she emails I’ll make sure to point out some of the great forums. This young one I think has all the ear-markings of enthusiastic body artist!

2009-06-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

June 21,
Goes down in history as Fathers Day and the day my computer died (play a funeral dirge here) Oh man what am I supposed to do without my forums, facebook and EMAIL!! Heck even my business phone and calendar are tied into my PC. Ive been reduced to cleaning my desk 

On a brighter side we went to the Pirate Festival in Novato today – and the question of ‘what ever happened to all the displaced local ren-faire people has been answered!! They’re all pirates now! I did a pretty good pirate face but was waaay under dressed. I saw friend Lena there browsing some super great costumes and had to stop by the Magikal Face Painting booth run by Kristin Scott. I believe Katherine Grillos was working just then (I think it was Katherine) and since she was so busy I just said I dropped by to say hi. But if you ever have the opportunity to see Magikal Face Painting in action go see them. Kristin does the BEST sweet-nothing eye look!
Now that my desk is clean and this entry written Im off to pack supplies for the next henna for teens class tomorrow afternoon, but first thing Im going down to our ISP to have our modem checked!!

henna class

2009-06-26T11:53:00.001-07:00

June 20
Today I was in Guerneville teaching the second henna for teens class. We had a small turn out but it was fun. Two of the girls even stayed an extra half hour and when the one left she had an entire sleeve of henna! Im not sure if it was because I rewrote my lecture part or not but this group didn’t need any ‘hand holding’ and just went right at it! One thing I am noticing though is that teenage girls don’t laugh at my jokes…hmmmm

2009-06-24T00:11:00.001-07:00

June 19
Private party this afternoon. Siena turned 4 today! Mom Sasha and I decided I should come a half hour into the party to give people time to show up…ehh heemmm, except the guests didn’t start to show up until 45 minutes into the party. So while I waited I painted the birthday girl, her mom, the moms best friend and anyone else I could catch. We did a nice hibiscus floral design down the friends shoulder…the kids started coming and then just didn’t stop!

The only bit of drama was my car completely emptied the coolant reservoir down their driveway when I showed up! I hosed it off and the wonderhub came out and switched cars with me while I was working, so alls well that ends well. Hes marvelous with mechanical things so I know he’ll figure out whats going on with it!

Teen Henna Class

2009-06-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

June 17
Yesterday was the first in my series of 10 henna classes for the Sonoma County Library system. Cloverdale is a pretty small place and we had 6 girls turn out. I was a little nervous as the librarian sat in on the entire thing – but she was very nice and chatty, so it added to the class. We went over what henna is, how it works and then practiced some basic strokes on paper. We moved on to connecting the design elements on hand templates and then graduated to the real stuff! The girls were very very hesitant to begin, and I’m wondering if I over stated how quickly the design would transfer. But after a little bit and one of the girls totally wiping off her design the resistance was broken and they really started getting into it. There was one however who needed no prodding. This young lady didn’t go for any of the traditional elements but at my suggestion did something she usually draws. She ended up with an entire dragon and forest scene on her left arm along with a wolf howling at the moon on the underside of her arm. Way to go! The last two girls to leave even did their feet; hearts, peace signs, and smiley faces….very cute. This class definitely taught ME a few things. Less talk, more work and the next time we do this (in 2 days from now) I will start the hands on section with a ;follow me’ design of a basic flower so the initial apprehension will be broken….more on that in a few days!!

2009-06-22T18:42:00.000-07:00

June 15
Yesterday was one of the best days ever! I went and painted at the Novato Mothers Club annual picnic (interesting side note; we’ve worked for the Sonoma and Novato mothers clubs and have never been hired to do an event for either of the mothers clubs I have been on the board of or belong too…odd no?) In any event, there are 3 girls there to help me set up the tent, they continually ask if they can feed or water me and the kids are great. I really liked the moms (my kind of people!) and hope to get some calls from this group later. The day was capped off by a dad who must be running for a ‘super dad’ award as he carried TWO of my tent weights at once. I can barely drag one…hope he didn’t get a hernia! He then took the other two one of the moms had put on a dolly and tossed those in the van too…that was one strong guy!

really starting to catch up now!

2009-06-20T23:16:00.001-07:00

June 14
Yesterday was the Health and Harmony Festival at the Santa Rosa Fairgrounds. Ok the festival actually was 3 days, starting Friday and going until today. But I only painted yesterday (Saturday) Alison’s friend, Peri has a booth in the Goddess Grove and the idea had been to do some body painting and bring out the neons which are black light reflective for the big techno party last night. I was mildly surprised to see not only the 2 others I knew would be painting but another woman also set up shop with Peri’s group – apparently another friend was asked to play along. I was at the back of the queue and as each of the other painters had 2 customers to my ZERO I went scouting the rest of the grounds.

There was another face painter in the children’s area as well as a booth offering ‘free’ face painting. So I return to my last place position and get ‘lucky’ with 2 clients (whoot now I’m up $13 and its ‘only’ been an hour and a half) after more standing around a young lady comes up who does hair braiding she, it seems, is looking to trade spaces. Her space is ALL THE WAY across the grounds…so off I go again to check it out. When I find the right people (who did not exactly embody the ‘harmony’ ideal)) they say they are already doing face painting so no, I’m not welcome there either….so back I go to the Goddess Grove.

At this point it’s around 1:30pm and when I return there is ANOTHER face painter working in Peri’s area. Huuu, I sez to myself, this really isn’t working for me. I make my apologies to Peri explaining I think we’re a little overstaffed and pick up my supplies to find a new spot. I land along the walkway at a cross roads and promise myself to try it for an hour and if nothing good comes of it I will pack up and go home. After 20 minutes I have been asked where the bathroom is 4 times and directions to other places twice. I’m done in this spot!

As a last ditch effort I decide I need to approach the face painter in the children’s area – maybe he’s a business man and I can make a deal. When I arrive in the children’s area Diego is working with a troop of performers and not staffing his booth. Finally after 10 or so minutes I interrupt him and explain I’m a face painter without a country and ask if I could paint at his booth. He explains to me that usually he takes FIFTY percent!! But in my case he’ll go with thirty. Knowing I can go home or make 70% I accept the 30% fee. I set up shop and have an instant line.

Diego concludes his parade with his performers half an hour later and calls me into his tent (while I still have a huge line) asks me to count out and pay him his 30% “just so we’re on the same page”

He then proceeds to say ‘no waiting’ to the line and takes 5 kids in and sits them around himself on low stools. Diego’s way of painting is different from mine, in that he does several strokes on each face and moves down, like an assembly line. Often this means that each kid gets the same / similar look. Diego’s samples are mostly feathery multi-colored eye masks which he tailors to the child’s favorite color scheme. He does this by dipping a brush on some sort of water color (?) crayon –( and yes I mean a crayon as in small cylindrical thing).

About 10 minutes after he begins and my little friend Samantha has just reached my chair Diego calls out that there is a melt-down and I must take over a little girls design. I answer just as soon as I’m finished with Samantha I would be happy to do it Diego replies ‘NO, now’

What happens over the next 7-8 minutes is nothing short of a melodrama. The mother calling him various things including ‘talentless’ and him tying to give her the money back, changing his mind and saying ‘you’re paying me for what I did’, with her telling me how horrid he is, with him telling her, and then me, that if she didn’t apologize to him and the whole crowd that I would be told to go home as I wasn’t really supposed to be there anyway and concluding with him saying ‘this isn’t working’ and that most likely I should just leave. Meanwhile I’m just trying to duck and cover. I’ve never gotten in trouble for being too good before.

After she leaves and insists on tipping with a $5 -- as he doesn’t get a percentage of tips. Diego decides the answer is for me to move my set-up inside the tent – and to get rid of my photo board (no photo board! Doesn’t he know I can’t paint without my photo board!!) So Samantha’s mother helps me move my table into the tent and we begin anew.

It takes a full 2 hours for him to finally say ‘whew, that woman’s energy has finally left’ ….ah hhmmm.

Diego ducks in and out over the next couple of hours and we have a comfortable work environment. The next problem doesn’t arise until its 8 something getting dark and Roger wants to come pick me up. Diego has gone to dinner an hour earlier and never reappeared. I still need to cash out with him and have no idea where he is! And while I really don’t want to even touch the cash without him being there I am forced not only to break out his 30% but to leave it along with my card with the coordinator of the children’s area. (yes, I realize this is very risky) I leave with several hundred for the day. Diego’s cut total has been $141

Then this morning I get a call from him asking how I would like to settle up! Only to be followed by a second call an hour later confirming the receipt of the money….
So , was I better off having done this event or not? Should I have stayed in the goddess grove (where they apparently each made $100 a day)

second in catch-up line (did she say Ketchup?)

2009-06-19T20:57:00.001-07:00

June 13
Last night I worked with Marti-Cate and the most awesome henna artist I’ve ever seen, Darcy V. The kids were great (Novato High) and chose a lot from the special henna sample book I put together. One design idea was complete synchronicity. I have a 007 (James bond) looking design and one of the boys asked for it to be 009 … as in the year of graduation and it made total sense! A combo of James Bond and their graduation year – perfect! I did that altered design on several boys. As the night wore on and they got wilder (and more random) I did the word DUDE on one guys back – to go with his friends ‘sweet’ done by Darcy and a palm tree and the Oakland A’s logo as well as astrological signs, a ‘mom’ heart and eyes over a nose and airbrushed lips…it was a long night, getting in at 3am but saw Franco from Family airbrush and got to work alongside Darcy – so it was a good night!

Catching up!

2009-06-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

Sat June 6/Sun June 7

The last big Event coordinator festival until fall is this weekend. We're back down on Union Street and know the wind can be wicked bad. This festival is being billed as an 'art festival’ by the location and an 'eco festival' by the event company. I decided against doing a bunch of 'eco' faces as most of our young clients tend to go for the same thing – no matter the theme of the event. We did skull faces on boys at Easter and every festival we’ve been at… along with Spiderman, tigers, princess crowns and butterflies plus of course my favorite Gina Niemi inspired swirls and curls.

Update: the days were long and the booth was kept up overnight. I had Clementine and Liz strip the booth of anything that could be carried away – with the exception of a 2 gallon water container, which in the perverse nature of the universe, was taken during the night. So we re-set the entire booth this morning and had a good time.

The most notable things to come out of this weekend's events were the girls painted mustaches on each other and they were a HUGE hit!! Who woulda thunk. We sold maybe 10 mustaches painted on 20 something girls, a few pre-teen girls, and a couple of 20 something guys. My girls got so many comments and guys hitting on them because of their mustaches…however it was San Francisco ;)

The other notable thing was the paid security guard was a little overly officious and after letting in several cars, including Roger, then tried to bar Liz from bringing in the van. Roger ran down and had a 'discussion' with the guard which ended up in Roger taking the steering wheel from Liz and driving onto the grounds – as the security guard screamed at him and at the last minute threw himself on the mirror of the van. Then he started yelling that Roger had run over him and he called the cops on a 'hit and run'.

The cops showed up after several minutes (and several more cars coming onto the grounds) and ran Rogers license, spoke to the security guard and sent us on our way….while my kids all cowered in the back seat certain they were going to be fatherless as he would be taken off to the big house.

In the end it was a profitable weekend and we did some good work

2009-05-08T23:22:00.001-07:00

just finished henna night with the mothers club...non stop fun! Getting ready for airbrush gig (first communion) at Occidentals Negris restaurant..now where is that compressor!

2009-05-07T22:44:00.001-07:00

finally stopped procrastinating and am getting ready for tomorrow night Santa Rosa Mothers Club Pamper Night. I'll be doing henna art. To all my SRMC friends...sign up early, spaces are limited!

2009-05-07T22:11:00.001-07:00

new photos of Kids in The Kitchen. Mothers Day Cake Workshop
http://ping.fm/JaLFu

2009-05-07T09:50:00.001-07:00

The SonomaMarin Fair is using my "Best of Show" cake on their 'enter your stuff' page

http://ping.fm/okXoK

2009-05-06T13:19:00.001-07:00

RIP Dom DeLuise. He was great in Fievel Goes West

2009-05-05T20:31:00.001-07:00

shout out to all my peeps (and a test)

2009-05-04T22:44:00.001-07:00

So I went back to toastmasters after a month absence tonight. made for the end of a busy day with art in 4th grade plus girlscouts

2009-05-01T00:01:00.001-07:00

Day Under the Oaks Press Release
http://ping.fm/Hpt7U

2009-04-30T21:24:00.001-07:00

Totally excited, one of my favorite instructors will be at convention in Sept!
http://ping.fm/hipm4

2009-04-30T10:09:00.001-07:00

2009-04-29T20:55:00.001-07:00

From Jay Gordon, MD FAAP

Swine Flu/Tamiflu
April 26, 2009

Just wash your hands.

Every year, hundreds of viruses pass through the pediatric and adult community. Many of the bugs are disruptive and keep kids out of school and adults away from work. Some of the viruses have unique signs and symptoms, but most just cause amorphous aches, sneezing, coughing or intestinal upset.

Influenza viruses, especially new ones, trigger more news stories and can be made to seem much more frightening and dangerous than they really are. Government agencies and media don't supply statistical context and make it sound like you've got a "fifty-fifty" chance of contracting this new virus. They then make it sound like a lot of people who get this influenza end up in the hospital and may die. Statistically, nothing could be further from the truth: The chance that the new virus is really dangerous is small. The chance that you'll get it is much, much smaller, and the possibility that you or a family member will be harmed by the virus is so slim that the news should be on page twenty, not page one.

Swine Flu is a virus for which there is no vaccine, no threat to your family and there are undoubtedly tens of thousands of harmless undiagnosed cases throughout the world. The news stories are probably taking a hundred questionable respiratory deaths in Mexico and guessing.

There actually is a very, very small chance that this virus could cause severe illness and whenever this occurs hospitalization and even fatalities are reported. The likelihood of a pandemic is miniscule, but newspapers, governments agencies and the manufacturers of pharmaceuticals do their best work and make their biggest sales when people are scared.

Tamiflu is recommended for treatment and prevention of this influenza virus. The company which gets the drug's royalties (Gilead) has as a major stockholder- -previously Chairman--one Donald Rumsfeld.

Local pharmacies are already running low on Tamiflu.

Connect these dots.

http://ping.fm/lbARQ

http://ping.fm/Wwpsi

http://ping.fm/Bi1Kb

http://ping.fm/1D1b1

http://ping.fm/J7Fyi

The usual boring admonitions apply: wash your hands, stay well-rested and well-hydrated. You do not need to buy Tamiflu. It is an effective antiviral drug but has possible side effects.

http://ping.fm/vYkEe

As far as our office prescribing Tamiflu, we would rather not, but we will if you insist. I promise you that I personally am purchasing none for my family and would recommend the same to you.

Best,
Jay
JNG, MD FAAP

2009-04-29T20:44:00.001-07:00

Long day today. Booked 2 parties and have been sorting through body models and prospective photographers. Be watching for us to do a little live model painting downtown Santa Rosa this summer!

2009-04-29T13:04:00.001-07:00

ping

2009-04-29T12:57:00.001-07:00

test2...looking to show up on twitter, post blog, and face book

2009-04-29T12:52:00.001-07:00

http://ping.fm/Es6bN

Butter & Eggs Day

2009-04-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

Just finished Butter & Eggs event in Petaluma. Had a great time and painted some great faces!

test

2009-04-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

this is a test....blogging has been recommended as a great way to help get the word out about our business...because we rock!