The President’s Ball

Last night was the GPRC President’s Ball.  I was hired to face paint the entertainment, staff, volunteers to fit the theme of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and then my assistant, Naomi, would arrive later on and paint the guests with me until the end of the booking.

I have no idea how many fairies I painted!  LOL…

There were the older girls who were fairies, then later a group of the smaller girls they called the Sprites arrived, there was a boys choir who were all tribals (except the one who insisted on the brightest pink butterfly I could do, and one who wanted the forest theme,) the ticket sellers who were adult “sexy” fairies,  many of the volunteers who were working the event, the stilt walkers, the Fairy Queen and then paying quests.

I was there before 4 p.m. to get set-up and started painting at 4:30, I was going non-stop until close to 7 p.m. when Naomi arrived, then the Sprites and boys choir arrived so we both carried on painting.

This time, I did remember my camera.  I even set it out on the table…. um… yeah, I forgot to take photos.  At least until Naomi arrived.  She’s great… without asking she grabbed it and took some shots of me painting, and of me!

They had made this awesome sign for the face painting!  The photo they used is one of mine I took of the faerie court from A Midsummer Night’s Dream that I did back in 2009.  Pretty cool, eh?  And they let me keep it!

Here are some shots of me painting one of the guests (she was the host of the party I painted at last weekend and I did her wedding make-up.  We first met when working on She Stoops to Conquer in 2001.)

As you can see, I am holding an LED reading light in my left hand so I can see what I am doing.   I did specify that we needed proper lighting, and they did have a spot aimed at our table, but, nothing for our chairs.  I carry these LED lights in the pocket of my make-up chair as I always end up using them when painting at the clubs or at these types of gala events.

Oh… d’you like the butterflies in my hair?  We both dressed as fairies (for an extra fee, of course!)

And here is the finished design… I copied her jewelry.

I really, truly meant to take photos of the fairies… really.  I get into the zone when painting and do not feel that I have time to stop to take photos, particularly when I am being paid my hourly rate to paint.  I feel like I am taking time away from production.  So, I just forget to do it.

I did chase down one of the small groups of fairies and sprites that were working the room to get a group photo…

And these following shots were taken by the lady in the photos above – her daughter was one of the sprites.

The event is an annual fundraiser for the college’s scholarship fund so there is a silent auction, a live auction, raffles, and all the value added activities require a fee.  There were many things going on.  They were charging $20 for face painting.  We did some of the guests after they had finished the live auction, and then there was a lull.  We had been booked until 10 p.m. so as we were quiet at that point I went and checked with the coordinator.  There was a provision that we would stay if there was a demand, but as we had no one waiting at that point it was her call.  And she called it.  We packed up and were headed home by about 10:40 p.m.

I did manage to paint a quick design on Naomi as well using one of those small TAG split cakes… which I did not realize were SO small.  Too small  –  they need to be about 1.25 inches to be optimum size for me.