Is your face ready for the Olympics?

 

You see this on the soccer field at your local game, on the face of a spectator in the grandstand screaming GOAAAL and on the cheek of a young chap visiting a grand sporting stadium for the very first time. Body painting is a way in which a fan can really express their support for their team and be a display for their more intense interest than everyone else sitting around them.  Obviously called fanatic for the reason they are willing to paint their faces and bodies in their team’s colours, symbols even mascots, sometimes even in very vibrant team colours. Personally I believe there is a wondrous power between wearing body paint and being able to scream louder. How else are the fans able to bellow over the football field, stadiums or from my experience even through water?

Painting my face every sporting carnival was normality, especially in school houses and teams, painting your face and putting the same coloured ribbons in your hair (yes even if you’re a boy) would be warranted all in the name of pride of your sporting house, war paint I called it. 

But it doesn’t just stop at school sporting events, often we see painted faces at our biggest football game or we might even see it on a grander scale. Yes, at the 2012 London Olympics not only will different countries be flying the flag with their countries colours but they might even be painted on spectator’s skin.

We all know that it is the athlete that wins the game but it is with your screams, chant and ultimate body painting support that inspires that athlete. So this Olympics or at your next local game, try a few body painting colours on your face or even go the whole nine yards and do the full package torso.

My Main tip for this venture.

•  When applying to large surfaces apply multiple thin layers instead of gluggy large bits of paint.
• Wear sunscreen along with your painted faces if watching outside. Inside spectators should be fine!

 

Body and Face Painting: Festival Painting

Hello Art aficionados!

Once again body and face painting is the hot topic of the hour. The focus this time is decoration of the body and face for festivals. This particular context for body painting is one of interest to me as it provides a safe place to be expressive, artistic and always crazy with your designs. During festivals is perhaps the most socially acceptable time we can be a little Avant-garde in society, so of course creating art using your body and face as the canvas would seem the obvious choice! 

Coming from someone who loves body painting, I would of course love to see a world of people wearing body art in the most unusual of circumstances. Perhaps fashioning a floral face motif at their local grocer or even painting their face just to visit their grandma. But for now festivals, fairs and community events are the perfect medium for showing what one can do with their paint brushes and body paint. 

Some great painting ideas that are simple and always trending are simple shapes, flowers, swirls lots of fluro colour and geometrical shapes. Below is an example of a quick 5 minute design using just triangles and fluro body paint to paint some friends for a music festival. As you can see the design’s intent was to be quick, colourful and allow for the subjects to 'stand out in the crowd'.

The above design is more for modern day festivals however this week I was on the pursuit to re imagine a design for a festival in the 60s or 70s like Woodstock. Creating something inspired by 'flower power' was most certainly helped by the fact I was wearing a 60's dress with a psychedelic print on the day (seen in the mid section). This was the inspiration and reference for the choice of colours, as you can see with the   yellows, green, red and white hues. I have also created orange with the combination of red and yellow to create another element. This little inspirational body work focuses on colour, shape and line, using triangles, dashes, dots and swirls , and showing off their potential as a funky 60s body print. 

Here is just an extra suggestion, if anyone ever does go to their grocer with face paint or perhaps has a body paint dinner party, post your photos, we love seeing art mediums being transferred into different contexts. 

Happy Creating!

Body and Face Painting: Snow Leopard & Guido Daniele

As part of our Body Art Month we take a closer look at working with the living canvas, the human figure, and share a step by step to creating an artwork to disguise and transform the human hand into something much more!

When discussing hand painting, Milan artist Guido Daniele comes to mind with his highly realistic hand paintings, which depicted animals. Our quick twenty minute blog does not pale in comparison to his sometimes three to ten hours to complete one hand painted artwork, carefully researching each animal and bringing them to life on different subject's hands. Noticeably with Guido’s work he uses to his advantage the creases and imperfections of the human skin, which develops the uniqueness of the animal's character more so, this can be seen in his creation the elephant.

To achieve some of these 3D effects, Guido has used method’s such as Trompe-l'œil, French for ‘deceive the eye’, a technique involving realistic imagery to create optical illusions, see his Zebra.  

Now, Guido would have used other forms of paint but for the purposes of this blog and for the safety of cosmetic grade materials on skin, we are using Mont Marte Body Art Materials. 

You will need;

• Mont Marte Body Art Kit in Bright Colours
• Wet Cloth
• Camera
• Hand
• Gallery Paint Brushes

What was truly the saddest part of this art creation was watching the paint run down the sink when it was time to wash my hands, so you must always have a camera at the ready, or, simply paint again!

 

Step 1. Start with a reference picture or sketch our your design on paper prior OR if you're feeling confident and know your artistic design inside and out then skip to step 2!

 

Step 2. A great tip when planning out your motif or design is to paint it in white first. This way if you make any mistakes, need to make rearrangements or change proportions, this can easily be removed with a wet cloth. Easy!

 

Step 3. To create the facial hair of the snow leopard we used the Mont Marte Body Art Colours Black and White in the bright kit. We have used a light to dark method when applying to the hand. Firstly add the white beard using a dry brush method. Mix black and white to create a lighter shade of grey then add in as a block colour. Following your reference photo (or if you have seen a snow leopard in real life, your mind!), gradually add more black to your mix applying in areas that are visibly darker.

 

Step 4. Add more white pigment over the grey shades to accentuate the whiskers and give detail to fluffy hair. Before adding in a black outline, colour the eyes with a dark shade of green, then add the highlights to the eyes with a yellow, this is the 'shine you would see on an eye ball. Then you can add in a strong black outline to the eyes and nose, adding detail to the whiskers and speckled forehead.   

 

Step 5. Remember this is your artwork so there is no need to follow the colours given, take some creative license and  maybe make your snow leopard a blue hue. 

Is there any other animal you would like to create, perhaps one you have seen from Guido Daniele??

Happy Creating!

Face and Body Painting - Guess who Take 2.

Hello Artists! 

We have another guess who for you today. This fun party idea or eccentric facial hair idea is inspired by a famous Surrealist artist. Follow the clues and report back below on who it might be. You could even try replicate the idea and post in some photos on facebook! You just need the following;

Materials needed;

• Mont Marte Acrylic Gallery series brushes
• Mont Marte Body Art - Black
• Camera to take lots of photos. 

Clues:

• He was known as a Surrealist Artist.
• This artist was born in 1904.
• He is best known for his piece “The Persistence of Memory”.
• He studied at the Academia de San Fernando.
• He was heavily influenced by Picasso and Miró.

 

Who is this artist??

Face and Body Art - Frida Kahlo

Last week you had to guess who the body painting creation was based on. We gave you the clues;

• This Artist was born in Mexico
• This Artist also has a Museum dedicated to her Mexico
• She was quoted saying, "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.”

The artist was FRIDA KAHLO . What do you think of our attempt? Leave comments below. 

Face & Body Art How to and Tips: Guess Who??

When we picture body art the first term that ties in with body painting is face painting.

The most commercial form of face painting is the regular old face painting party or event, kid’s parties being the most common with fairy motifs, Spiderman and other super hero designs and the odd clown face here and there.

I’d like to introduce a simple face painting idea that doesn’t involve highly intricate designs and over the top swirls and glitter (which by all means is absolutely a fun way to decorate), however a simple and easy body art disguise for a themed party using Mont Marte Body paint and art supplies. These inspirations are a quick painting job for that emergency party idea, but of course effective for a few laughs. 

I’m going to leave it up to you to tell me who this party disguise is based on?? Hints are written below.

Materials needed;

• Face (imperative for face painting)
• Mont Marte Acrylic Gallery series brushes
• Mont Marte Body Art Kit- Bright

Tips when starting a face painting job;

1. When searching for face painting materials we always consider the safety of putting paint on our little noggins so one should always look for a water-soluble, non toxic, cosmetic grade art kits like the Mont Marte range. 
2. Use fresh clean water when starting a new job.
3. Wash your hands or use antibacterial wipes.
4. Avoid areas like the eyes as these are the most sensitive. 
5. The great thing about these art supply materials is that they easily wash off with soapy water so keep a towel handy.
6. Map out your design on a drawing prior, or use a reference image. Being such a simple design the drawing is probably not needed, however this is a great tool to know what colours you need and is a great practicing tool before painting a real life model.

Today’s disguise artist hint

• This Artist was born in Mexico
• This Artist also has a Museum dedicated to her Mexico
• She was quoted saying, "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.”

Now tell me the artist below! If you have any great new facts about this artist we would love to hear them. Also, What do you think of our attempt?