Bodacious Boomer

Last night was the fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald house in Houston. The event was “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”.  There were stations where women could get air-brush tattoos, get their nails done, make-up done, etc.  Frankly, I was a little apprehensive. I’d painted at a lot of high-end special events before. However, they’d always been for mixed crowds- both men and women. In the past, I’ve tended to be intimidated by wealthy women. I think it started when Doug and I were working at an event and referred to as “carnival folk” in a condescending tone by an affluent woman. I remember correcting her and told her that Doug had an MBA and I had a degree in art. Perhaps she thought after I painted her child’s face, I was going to guess her weight.

It amazed me just how many women I painted last night were virgins. (They’d never had their face painted before.) As far as I could tell they all enjoyed their paintings. I had a good time and  felt good about supporting such a wonderful place.

My apprehension of earlier in the evening proved to be unfounded. I painted a number of the women last night and they were all just great, really fun to be around. After I showed the ladies their newly painted and glittered faces I handed each of them a flier that explained all the different activities that we can provide at corporate events. I also gave them a business card that had Bodaciousboomer. com on it. I explained what my blog is about and encouraged them to visit and share it with their friends. Hopefully the night was a big success not only for the Ronald McDonald house but for me as well. There’s nothing wrong with that is there?

I got my Geezergram yesterday from Headgeezer.com. The photo of this pup was in it yesterday. Is this little guy cute or what? Look at those paws! Sad but true that I can relate all too well to the caption.

Doug and I are doing kids activities at the Katy Home and Garden show today and tomorrow. We’re going to be in the “Annex” building AKA big, unheated barn. I hope we get some business. It’s cold and windy today here- at least cold for Houston. I broke out my long undies last night to wear today. I decided that if I’m going to sit there for 7 hours painting faces, I’m not going to freeze my ample tushie at the same time. It takes forever to thaw it out.

She was SOOOO drunk

For many, many years the fall was always our busiest time for festivals.They were fun and we made a lot of money over the years. However, after working at events for over 20 years, the thrill is gone. Besides, I’m tired of watching other people have a good time. (All the face painting has given me arthritis in my right shoulder and carpal tunnel in my hand too). So now, I only do face and body painting infrequently. Most of the time the paintings have been on faces.

However, I’ve done more than my share on shoulders, chests and legs. When you’ve painted at Mardi Gras as long as I did, you’ve painted everything. Invariably 20-something guys would come up and ask “Hey, can you paint this?”, while simultaneously grabbing their crotch. (They thought they were going to shock me). Invariably I would say “Let’s do it”. Now 99% of the time, the guys would freak out and run away, with his friends hassling him for being a chicken.

Occasionally, though one would step up to the plate, so to speak. Before I’d  start I’d make a big deal of having to find my “eyeliner” brush. Everyone gets a big laugh out of that. The last time I painted “that very special part of a man’s body” I put a tiny lightning bolt on it- an easy $35.00 for about 15 seconds work. After telling him he was done, he said, “But wait, I’m still wet.” I told him that I realized that. He said “Blow on it”. I said, “No my work here is done. You should’ve planned ahead”. I’ve got a photo of it somewhere. However, I think I’ll keep that one to myself.

I painted on Bourbon Street in New Orleans the Mardi Gras before Katrina hit. A black couple in their late 40’s wanted a body painting.  She opened her shirt and I painted feathers and swirls all over her boobs, finishing with glitter. They were thrilled. Her husband looked at her and said “Let’s go to the hotel and get jiggy with it”. (I wasn’t really sure what that meant, assuming though that it had something to do with having a good time. It did I later found out).

When I was still painting at TRF I had a couple in their 80’s come to me one day to get painted. They’d never been painted before and were visiting the festival with their large extended family.They told me to go wild! (That can be a dangerous thing to tell a face painter).By the time I was done, they were almost unrecognizable. When I showed them their faces in the mirror they were thrilled. I told them how to remove the paint and never gave them another thought- til the next weekend. All of a sudden I looked up and there they were again ready for a painting. The little old woman leaned over to me and whispered “Honey, can you do that again? It was like being with a stranger!” I almost fell off  the stool. She said they’d been married 60 years. Good for her. You’re never too old to try something new I thought. Today’s trivia answer- Pompeii in the 1st century. It said “I don’t want to sell my husband”.

Painted at the Zanibar- Austin 9/2009

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.