no swirls, curls, teardrops from me…

time to stretch my wings

Thanks Brady :)

Usually my swirls and curls are Thin-Thick-Thin, but my daughter’s princess crown was calling out to me.  It had the usual “filigree” curls but the ends were teardrops. Light bulb!

So as you can see, when I am learning something new it takes me a few tries…

Inspiration and First shot...

And some practicing on my arms...

And legs...

And other legs...

And legs again

You guessed it... it's another leg

Ah ha! I knew I had another arm shot in there.

And then!  And then I might be able to try it on my self again…

Lovely "five head" there, Michelle...

And then I bribe our daughter to let me give it a shot on her :)

Awwww... she is such a princess.

So my lessons learned:

1. Alison Kenyon rocks! at her filigree crowns.
2. Filigree with brushwork gold first and then adding brown takes a loooooong time.  Sponge the gold background and then use brown line work.
3. Darker colors work best for this style.
4. I don’t need to highlight each and every single brown line at the end.
5. I need to get Z to teach me her eyelashes…

We had tons of willing models and almost every single painter got to get their brushes dirty (or they got my brushes dirty- we share here in MD).

Lots of sharing and some new faces too.

Check out the pictures below!  There are TWO pages of pictures there. 

Scroll down and click the green Triangle when you have seen all 20 pictures on this page.

12►

Carol’s Face Painting Jams are always awesome.  She has so many talented connections plus she is just plain funny and genuine.

Sunday took the cake though because we got to take a class with Mark Reid (!!) for $20.  Honestly, I so got my $20 worth.

I’m only going to post a few of these pictures so you can get a taste of what we got for our money:

Mark Paints Karen

Mark's Ironman

Mark's Flowers

Mark's Butterfly

We had fun anyway :)

Here are some pics:

Joes gets Baltimore'd by me (Heff)

Smile Joe!

Do Not Feed the Orioles

I started sketching this half face on Jenny...

... but it didn't turn out so hot. Lesson Learned!

Wendy used the Orioles Split cake we made (and gave away!)

Wendy paints me (Heff)

Heff and Wendy

I painted some non-sports related butterfly arms.

First time jammers!

The April Columbia Jam minutes before the massive downpour outside

I used the Orioles Split cake to paint the "Talking T'Rex" on Jenny's Leg. Tongue courtesy of Jenny!

Stencil Power ! Thanks to Wendy for cutting the "O's" stencil (we gave it away too!).

Everyone won something in the Left Right Left game, including Raven’s Glitter, Orioles Glitter, The “O’s” stencil donated by Wendy, the split cake we made and demoed that night and a brush that Jenny donated.

Michele, our newest jammer, brought up something that no one had ever asked before: “Who pays for the stuff you guys give away?”

Me: “…Jenny and I do.”

Michele: “Umm… why?”

Me: “You know… I’m not sure.”

I guess we give stuff away, and we pay for it ourselves, because it helps illustrate that we aren’t jamming for ulterior motives.  We want people to come out and new jams are sometimes slow to get off the ground.

Oh yeah!  And Marcela sent us FABAIC Bling (Free glitter and sticky jewels) for everyone.  Thank you, Marcella!  We’ll have extras for next month too.

30 Designs with Step by Step photos and written descriptions.  57 pages worth of designs and photos.  Spiral bound, glossy cardstock, typical Face Painting booklet size.

$20 at Silly Farm etc.

Pros:

- Diverse authors with different painting styles
- Descriptions of the steps accompany each picture
- Pictures of the authors/painters at the back of the book

Cons:

- 80% of the designs aren’t for beginners (or even intermediates) on the job
- Several designs could stand some editing (cut back on the excess!)
- Product names and colors not listed

Overall:

I like this book, but I’m not completely IN love with it.
Was it worth $20?  Yes.
Would I recommend it to a friend?  Yes, but only for inspiration.  It is not for stuff they can use every week.

Designs I am IN Love with:

Garden Princess (Cover Art) – the dots get me every time!
White Tiger – 2 colors = mondo impact
Barbed Beauty – Cree!!!!
Camouflage Skull – One of my all-time favorites (for painting on myself at 11:00 at night before bed)
Dreamcatcher – I use the clouds all the time
Monster Mouth – This is so perfect.  I need to paint this one this week!

15 designs, each with 4 Step by Step photos on one page and then the final design on the second page.  Spiral bound, glossy card stock that is typical of Wolfe books.

About $15 at Silly Farm etc.

Robot - love it!

Pros:

- Excellent designs you can actually use on a job
- No filler!  All space is used for photos.
- Simple layout

Cons:

- No descriptions, products, or tools listed
- Some of the steps are not 100% clear on what came next
- Not for beginners – 2 of the designs are “showing off” and I couldn’t use them on a job.

Overall:

Love it.  I have most of the other Wolfe books and this is soooooo my favorite.  If you don’t like it, then we can’t be friends.

Don’t Miss These Designs:

Angel
Devil
Mermaiden *
Crowned Royal
Robot *
Love Spider
Shooting Star

* These are designs that I use for birthday parties.  Does that make me unoriginal?  Maybe, but the kids love these ones.