A Retrospective

I was looking for a post on this blog about one of the competitions I had won… couldn’t find anything about it. Then realized… this blog started in 2009. My major award winning was prior to that!

So, here goes… to document some of the conventions I’ve attended, competitions I’ve done and awards I’ve received. Some images will seem familiar.

I started with online photo contests at Snazaroo USA Inc. This is a list of awards received from 2001 through 2013 (56 of them):

QUEEN OF THE HILL: July 20 to September 19, 2005

First Place: Sesame Street 2008 (Kermit); Dragons 2005 (Winged Dragon)

Second Place: Brian Wolfe Contest 2013 (Dragon); Halloween 2012 (Evil Jester); Birds 2009 (Penguin); Birds 2005 (Green Bird); Best of the Best for 2005 (Winged Dragon); Dolphins, Sharks and Other Ocean Creatures 2002 (Shark)

Third Place: Autumn & Fall 2005 (Chipmunk); Fish Faces 2005 (Jaws); Unicorns, Rainbows and Balloons 2005 (Rainbow Helmet); Painting with Powders 2004 (Holly); Working with Electric Colours 2003 Winter Tree)

Finalist: Halloween 2005 (Winkie Guard); Halloween 2005 (Full Face Burn SFX); Halloween 2004 (Alien in Space); Summer Free-for-All 2004 (Wolf); Summer Free-for-All 2004 (Lion)

Honourable Mentions: Halloween 2012 (Blue Ice Fairy); Halloween 2012 (Zombie Spidey); Butterflies 2009 (Blue Butterfly); Butterflies 2009 (Purple Butterfly); One-Stroke 2008 (Peacock Crown); Halloween 2008 (Bat); Summer 2008 (Green Cat); Flag Butterflies 2006 (Canada); Silhouettes 2006 (Bison); Silhouettes 2006 (Star); Halloween 2006 (Pinky & The Brain); Best of 2005 (Water Dragon); Painting Hands 2005 (Handgun); Halloween 2005 (Circle Monster); Halloween 2005 (Raptor); Halloween 2005 (Evil Clown); Halloween 2005 (Skull); Halloween 2005 (Cowardly Lion); Halloween 2005 (Evil Smile); Summer 2005 (Mutant Bunnerfly); Summer 2005 (Half Tiger); Summer 2005 (Rolls Royce); Summer 2005 (Phoenix); Summer 2005 (Fire Breathing Dragon); Power Rangers & The Like 2004 (Autobot); Holidays 2004 (Flanders Field); Halloween 2004 (Purple Dragon); Step-By-Step 2003 (Latex Burn); Painting Your Own Face 2003 (Butterfly with Flowers); Painting Your Own Face 2003 (Daisys); Halloween 2003 (Exotic Tiger); Dogs 2003 (Bull Mastiff); Butterflies 2003 (Purple Butterfly); Working with Electric Colours 2003 (Winter Moon); Summertime 2002 (Frog Catching Fly); Accents to the Face 2002 (Swan Mask); Out Of This World 2002 (Flying Saucer).

I also won a few other sponsored contests from different forums and companies.

In 2004 I attended the Face and Body Art International Conference in San Francisco and participated in the Face Painting competition. The theme was “Space” I didn’t place but my score sheet had very high marks for originality and technique. And my costume was very popular. I bought a reaper rob and about $300 of dimensional fabric paint and spent most of a week decorating it.

I did get a couple of uses out of it. It won the costume contest at the local library fundraiser later than year – I had the hood up and my face completely blacked out, with a miniature Enterprise 1701 hanging in front of my face. I called it Space, the Final Frontier.

LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01

In 2005 this dragon design, painted on my brother (Neil died in 2006) won me Best Face Painter in North America from Snazaroo USA Inc. and also International Face Painter of the Year from the UK Face & Body Art Convention in the UK.

At the 2006 UK Face & Body Painting Convention I was teaching, I wasn’t competing live but won a special award for making the judges laugh. I’d let my friend, Anne, dress me and do my make-up (I was NOT involved in the design nor did I have knowledge of it in advance!) She dressed me up as Super Painter, complete with lettered t-shirt, utility belt, cape, etc. so I just went with it!

Also in 2006 (I flew over after the UK Convention) I participated in the Fantasy Worldwide Face Painting competition in Putte, Belgium. This was a live competition, the theme was “Movies” and we had two hours to paint and accessorize our designs. I won with my Lady and the Tramp design.

In 2007 I entered the US Body Painting Festival’s Body Painting Competition in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The theme was “Halloween” and we had to paint two designs, one each day of the two-day competition. We were allowed six hours to paint and accessorize our models prior to judging and a stage performance. I won Second in the Sponge & Brush category.

These are my design sketches – the final versions after several ideas were scrapped.

These are shots by the professional at the show. Day one was The Headless Horseman and day two was Bats.

In 2007 (yes, I travelled a lot that year) I attended the UK Face & Body Art convention and we won best costume. We meaning my friend Anne was body painted and dressed up by me, and she worked the room! I was a shrubbery.

In 2009 I was an instructor at Living Canvas, a convention held in San Jose, California. No competition but took part in the jams and had a wonderful time.

My mom had a stroke in January of 2010 so I stopped travelling for competitions and conventions. I still entered wearable art shows and participated in local competitions and collaborations, but no overnight travel (unless mom came.) I had planned to attend and compete at the World Body Painting Festival in Austria in 2010, but family first.

And… That’s a wrap for Halloween 2016!

Another year of Halloween appointments completed.  This year was a bit rough for me as I am still struggling with my gallbladder pain (surgery is scheduled in EIGHT MORE SLEEPS!) As I wasn’t driving I was able to take my pain pills so it was reasonably tolerable (most of the time.)

This was the first year that there were no no-shows, so thank you to my clients – and the ones who called to cancel.  It made planning my day and filling open spots so much easier!

My first appointments this year were on Thursday afternoon, then all through the day Friday, solid on Saturday until 10 p.m. – thankfully Sunday was free from appointments but spent prepping for a special effects job – and then Monday, Halloween, with more bookings.

There were a lot of skulls.  Every year there are skulls. This year most of what I did was skulls… sugar skulls, half-skulls, full skulls, demonic skulls… with a few other things.  And one special effects zombie.  Five years ago it was the other way around – lots of special effects zombies and a couple skulls.  Guess tastes change.  Or overexposure on social media.

So here is a selection of what I did this year.

This first one won Scariest Costume (client emailed me to let me know!)

These next ones were a few of the ones done at at Muskoseepi Park for their annual Halloween Spooktacular.

And a sampling of the skulls done over the weekend:

And some of the usual suspects…

Vinny’s ides this year was Cruella DeVille who had been bitten by were-dalmatians and was morphing into one… LOL…

And the last one to share today, a little raccoon ready for trick-or-treating!

Halloween is Coming – part four

HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This weekend is going to busy, busy, busy!  The party night, which is when my services are in the most demand, is Saturday.  As Halloween is actually next Monday, the bookings on that day are kids on their way to school and my regular special effects client in the early morning.

This year I have appointments booked on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  As always, it is a tiring weekend, but I look forward to it every year.

I am booked solid on Saturday but there are always cancellations at the last minute – and unfortunately no-shows.  I keep a waitlist and will call people if a spot opens up, so you can still contact me (message me through my Facebook page which is linked to on the right.)  I just can’t guarantee you will get in.

Here are some of my favourite costumes and make-up design combinations.

I love what I do!

Next week’s post will be all about what I did this year for Halloween, so stay tuned.

Halloween is Coming – part three

Oh oh oh… Halloween is getting closer!!

I work at a few Halloween themed events annually – I do up the haunters and staff at the Muskoseepi Park Haunted House every year; face paint at the Rotary Stompin’ Scarecrow Festival (will be there on Oct 23rd!) and have painted at the GP Museum’s Haunted Hayride for the last several years.

It is always fun to match the costumes people are wearing!  It is my favourite thing to do –   whether it is a Princess or a Death Eater!  And I love a challenge.

Here are photos of make-up/face painting done over the years for different events and Halloween.

They can drive!!!

Painted up for a night of clubbing!

I don’t always have an opportunity to take photos while I am working if it is busy, so it is nice when I can access those taken by the photographers from the newspaper or official event photographers.

 

Halloween is coming!

The most wonderful time of the year!

I am going to do a weekly post featuring past make-ups and costumes I have done – for fun and possible inspiration.

I am still taking appointments for Halloween make-up for this year but am filling up fast so if you are my area and want to book I suggest contacting me ASAP!  You can message me through my Facebook Page – the link is on the right of this page.

These make-ups are from one of my favourite appointments – a group of friends would come regularly for special events (not just Halloween, but birthday pub crawls and theme nights.)  This particular event was a Dead Pirates theme.

 

Summer is going by

It has been hot here, but this last week has cooled down considerably – I’m back to sleeping under the covers without the fan blowing directly at me.  It is a nice change.

I’ve been dealing with getting the household under control without mom around.  And have the occasional breakdown, particularly when people bring up mom without warning in conversation.

I’m starting a new day job on Monday which I am really looking forward to!  I needed a change of everything to get my mind occupied learning new things and changing routines.

I am thinking about renting out my house so decided to get some cracks in the foundation checked again (I had them looked at a few years ago).  So I booked a company to come and check for me – I decided to move the shelves in the basement bedroom against the wall that had cracks showing.  The shelves had mould on them against the wall – the question of whether the cracks were leaking was answered even before they were professionally checked.

Long story short – massive amount of cracks in the west wall of the foundation, only a couple along the south.  Repairs now done.  But they will have to come back to possibly do more once I get the utility room clear as I had to store most of my stuff in there while they did the work.  But luckily no mould problem in the walls, thank god.

I had no idea how much staff/crap I have.  When I started having to empty shelves so they could be moved I filled up about 9 paper boxes with books, 20 large plastic bins with photo albums and ornaments, small bins with make-up supplies, etc. etc.  I am planning a garage sale, maybe two, in August to get rid of so much stuff – appliances (a dryer and a dishwasher), small appliances (blenders, deep fryer, panini press, electric frying pan, etc.), kitchen stuff (dishes, pans, baking pans, cutlery), ornaments and decorative things like cookie jars and glass canisters, framed things, craft and art supplies, some furniture… there is so much of it.  And the thing is, it wasn’t cluttered or piled up.  I have 18 bookcases in this house… and they all were full.

Just so you know, this is what the repaired foundation looks like before the wall is rebuilt – cracks filled with epoxy and Kevlar strapping attached to hold it all together.

 

Now I am awaiting the quote from a contractor to rebuild my walls, gut and rebuild the basement bathroom (it is very wet and needs ripping out and fixing of the problem which we think is the shower drain), replace all the flooring (the carpet has to go as it has been wet and there is some mould), paint, trim, etc.

I am going to be counting every penny in order to pay for the repairs, but they have to be done to ensure the house is sound.  Once this is finished we will have completely replaced everything – I am pretty sure we spent more fixing and replacing things than we paid for it 10 years ago.  Last fall the roof was replaced.  The main floor was completely redone 2010-11.  First month we were in the house the sewer line had to be replaced, then all the windows, every appliance, hot water tank… well, you get the idea.

Canada Day was busy and hot as always!  My crew of ten (eight painters and two cleaning crew) worked steady at the big event at Muskoseepi Park.  As always we limited the choices and colours were red, white, and black.  And rainbow.

I did a My Little Pony themed birthday party – my first one – last month.  After some research (and sharing by fellow painters) came up with these two designs:

Only two ponies got painted – both were Rainbow Dash.  There are sure a lot of them to choose from.

On June 20th I taught a workshop in Tumbler Ridge, and will be back there on the long weekend for Grizfest.  And I will be at the Debolt Fair on August 15 and the Hythe Fair on August 16 too.  Along with other events and birthday parties to keep me busy and earning money to pay for my basement repairs!

 

 

 

Just some random thoughts

Spring is here… yeah, right.  First day of Spring usually means more snow around here.  And this year was no different.  Snowed pretty much all day yesterday and today we are under a “Heavy Snowfall Warning”… after such a nice warm spell too.  Forecast is to be back up to +11c by next Thursday so I am not even going to bother shoveling the driveway.

This was yesterday afternoon.  Spring started at about the time I took this photo.

This is this morning, first full day of Spring.

[sigh]

I’ve just been checking in on blogs I have bookmarked (I don’t “follow” or sign up, I just bookmark them to check in when I have time) and there are a lot that haven’t posted for months, and in some cases a year or more.  A couple haven’t posted for over two years.  I think I may remove them from my bookmarks.

Makes me wonder about why they’ve stopped posting… are they dead? They forgot they have a blog? Don’t care anymore?  Some are connected to businesses that are still in operation – why have they not been posting on their blog?  Did the person responsible leave and no one took over?

I know in some cases the bloggers are overwhelmed by feedback from their followers and take breaks from the whole thing.  While I don’t have that issue I can understand the need to back away.  People can be demanding and/or cruel and/or needy, etc.  Just look at how demanding some people can be on Facebook groups – magnify that and focus on one person who has a hugely popular blog with hundreds of thousands of followers.  Yeah.  That.

There are a few I really miss.  I keep checking to see if they’ve come back…

I try to make sure that I post at least once a month on my blog.  Sometimes it is hard to find the time to write something interesting.  That’s when you get to read posts like this!  LOL

In my last post I mentioned making scones… I did and here they are.  My new container of baking powder is a dud – nothing is rising, so these should be about three times higher but they are still very good!

I also made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing – a request from mom (she asked for cake but cupcakes were easier).  No photos as they weren’t that interesting.  Mom had them for lunch the last few days.

Next Saturday is a make-up test run for the next show at Grande Prairie Live Theatre, “Cards on the Table” which is an Agatha Christie murder mystery.  We are doing something very unique and interesting with the hair and make-up – and sets and costumes!  I will post photos after the show opens as I don’t want to spoil the surprise.  I did a test make-up on one of the cast – it is pretty neat.

And, as Easter is coming here is my bunny painting – which will be the featured design at the Easter Eggstravaganza at Muskoseepi Park on April 4th.  We will be there face painting from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.!

 

 

Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too!

This is the final weekend for The House at Pooh Corner at Grande Prairie Live Theatre.  The show is really excellent – great set, great actors, great costumes, and ahem, great make-up, of course.

 

Piglet, Pooh, Kanga, Tigger, Eeyore and Owl.

 

Kanga, Roo and Tigger.

Still time to get tickets for the three remaining matinees!

Monday night is first dress rehearsal for Les Miserables… stay tuned for photos!

Snowflakes

I’ve gone a little snowflake crazy this winter (and by “winter” I mean Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec… and it will continue until probably April…)

I’ve always done snowflake designs in the winter – when you have snow on the ground, typically, six months of the year it is a common motif.

I’ve usually done them freehand which can be a bit time-consuming, or done the cheater type with just flicks of the brush so they are more of a six pointed star.  This year I got smart – with inspiration from a friend (well, more like completely copied her idea with her help, I might add) I made stamps for snowflakes.

The actual reason for this was Frozen.

All of those little girls wanting “Frozen” or “Elsa” designs… which in face painting circles means a blue base and white swirls and snowflakes.  I was booked, back-to-back, in October for Frozen themed birthday parties… the snowflake stamp saved my life.

And we will NEVER mention “Olaf” again…. EVER!

My crew loves the snowflake stamps too!

Using the stamps also guarantees all snowflakes are PROPER snowflakes with SIX arms… not eight, not four, not ten… SIX!  As shown here in this gorgeous photo a friend and local photographer, Marilyn Grubb, took and captioned:

I got stuck in the rut myself when painting myself for jobs – it is just so easy.  Just vary the base colour, change the layout…

This is one of my winter masks with my “old” snowflakes – I’ve been doing it lots with the stamps instead.

And I have several different snowflake shapes – I just have the one in my stash that I paint myself with – I should probably change it out for some variety.

 

 

 

 

My Annual Halloween Round-up

Another Halloween is over and done.  I am exhausted and so sore from standing and/or sitting for multiple hours over the last week.  This getting old thing really sucks.  Last night after a marathon 14 hours with only two 15 minute breaks, I had to take two Aleve and three Extra Strength Tylenol just to be able to sleep my legs and feet were so sore.

Then, after sleeping like the dead until the alarm went off this morning (as I had my first appointment at 8 a.m.), I awoke with my right arm completely numb… sigh… it isn’t completely back yet and it is after midnight now.

But enough about me… oh, wait… it is always about me.  Never-mind.

Here is a selection of work I’ve done over the last week or so for Halloween…

First, one of my regular customers – this year she won Scariest Costume at a local club!

And next a selection of Sugar Skulls and Skulls… the most popular request this year.  Last year was Zombies (remember? Check it out here to see last year’s photos), this year skulls.  I did quite a few more as well.

Then there were the kids… Frozen and Monster High top the list there!

This next one was a first … My first bearded lady.

And the normal Halloween type stuff…

A Witch

A Face Peel…

A Creepy Jester…

The Joker… and some sort of Anime character he had on his phone (I have NO idea…)

And my only special effects requests this year.  They were dressing as “army zombies” (promised me a photo once they got into costume.)

This next was a mash-up – He called it The Angel of Death.

And this guy was hilarious… he wanted a Velociraptor so I narrowed the T-rex design and made sharper teeth. He seemed thrilled and was taking selfies of himself continually.  His friend was giggling about it.

And this was a copy of a design she found on the internet – pretty much exactly as that is what she wanted.

So that is some of what I’ve painted over the last week or so.

I also painted staff and Haunters at the Muskoseepi Halloween Spooktacular on the 25th, and at the Grande Prairie Museum’s “Stooks and Spooks” on the 29th – got my picture in the paper painting there (won’t get my hands on a copy till Monday.)