When I was in Austin a couple of weeks ago I did some face painting at a club called Zanzibar. This photo is one of the girls I painted that day. She wanted a star. So I gave her a star with some swirls. She was wearing a Renaissance costume which left her shoulders bare. You can really go crazy when you’re painting a chest or shoulder. I think the painting came out nicely.
The first time I got my face painted it was in 1976 in San Fransisco. Sarah Tomato painted my face at the Polk Street Fair. All of my face was painted and glittered. I had gone to San Fransisco to see Wanda Lamont. (We did some wild and crazy things when we were there). While I was waiting for a bus the first day there a good-looking guy walked up to me and asked if I wanted to go to the “baths”. I told him I had just showered at the hotel. (I was very naive and had no idea what the baths were, but it sounded strange). I didn’t go. When it was time to fly home we had Sarah paint our faces before we got on the plane. Needless to say we got more than a few strange looks as we flew home in 1976.
The flight attendants kept giving us free drinks. (I don’t know if they knew what to do with us). As I recall our flight home was uneventful, except that we both got seriously snockered. Thank God no one was sitting anywhere around us. I had the magic wand I had bought on the trip with me. It was a fabric star about 6″ across made of shiny silver fabric attached to a silver stick. My folks came to pick us up at the airport. I recall that I walked around, trying to turn my mom into a toad. (Probably not my finest hour). My dad thought it was funny- my mom, not so much.
That September when I was working at an ad agency as an illustrator, I was approached about face painting at the Texas Renaissance Festival. The festival had just started a few years before and was still in it’s infancy. I’d never face painted before. However, I was a fast study and soon was painting there with a regular station aka spot. For the first few years I only painted at TRF which meant 14 days a year. Over the years though, especially when we did the big festivals out of state it could be as much as 18 days straight. The money could be great if I was in the right spot at the right time and the weather cooperated. However, over the years I’ve developed arthritis in my right shoulder and carpal tunnel in my right hand. I guess that’s to be expected since I’ve painted over 25,000 faces in 33 years.
Doug hates to think of me retiring from painting. However, I’m seriously burned out. It’s hard to stay enthused after so many, many years. There’s an event on Saturday where I could paint. However, I think I’ll just give it to Amanda. I think the time has come. Today’s trivia answer-Toilet paper circa 1857; 500 sheets for $0.50.
BTW- That great photo was taken by John Pesina. If you need any photography in Austin, he’s your guy. johnpesina.com.
