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Jan. 2010 Body Painting and More Winners, Their Stories and Other Entries

(make sure to also see winners from the Jan. 2010 Just Faces Category)

Sponsored by Diamond FX Face Paint and Curly Tops

1st Place Billy Edge Almost all Billy's working life has been involved with two things; art and clowning. He started as a performance clown when he was 16 and only stopped clowning (after more than 40 years) when he moved here from the UK. During that time he was also a professional cartoonist and illustrator. He started face painting about 25 years ago as a sort of spin-off from clowning. Nowadays, though he is more or less retired, he does a lot of writing; recently having written two plays that have been performed as well as having a children's book published ('Blip and the Seat of Arthur'.) He is just finishing a filmscript and he also acts and directs; this year he is going to be directing an open air performance of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' for a renaissance group. For paints, he is a great fan of Snazaroo and Wolfe paints. He feels he is not a fast face painter, and thinks of himself as a performer. He always tell his clients he works more on quality than quanity. He is very creative and makes a new design for almost every client. He tries to base his designs on something the client is wearing. Once he get painting, he tends to get more adults than kids to paint!			See Billy's story to the left	2nd Place Billy Edge
3rd Place Claudia Munoz HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN FACE AND/OR BODY PAINTING? I got started face painting just for family and friends.. next thing you know, everyone is asking me to do birthday parties. I first started doing it for free since I was already employed.. then I quit my job to be a work-at-home and my husband got hit with furlough days from work. I realized I needed to help make ends meet and since I became so addicted to face painting, the answer was obvious!! I decided to jump in and expand.... WHAT DID YOU DO BEFORE THAT? I substituted for two school districts, and just ran my freelance artist/illustrator business from home. WHAT DO YOU NOW BESIDES FACE AND/OR BODY PAINTING? Everything from: Painting pet/people portraits, graphic design, childrens book illustrations, printmaking, ink drawings, sculpting, painted clothing, bags, aprons etc... Murals, kids custom room decor.. you name it, I'll try it! WHAT PAINT BRANDS ARE YOUR FAVORITES? WHY? I love Wolfe fx, because of the richness and boldness.I also like Kryolan.. but I need to explore others.. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING TO PAINT? Swirl designs, and more swirl designs, unless it's a body painted... IS THERE SOMETHING ELSE ABOUT YOUR CAREER AS A FACE/BODY PAINTER THAT YOU WOULD LIKE OTHERS TO KNOW ABOUT? I would love to start a Jam closer to home.. with 3 kids, it's hard to get to the ones already in place..			4th Place Steve Sumner HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN FACE AND/OR BODY PAINTING? My wife Tammy asked me to help her paint at an upcoming local festival in late 2008. So I went through her Klutz Face Painting book and started practicing. When the festival rolled around I painted a few faces, which was intimidating at first, but it actually turned out to be much more fun than I thought it would be. After that I continued to practice and I helped her paint at a few more events. We attended the Living Canvas convention in San Jose in 2009, and learned a great deal there. I also took a class with Brian Wolfe in November, which was truly enlightening. WHAT DID YOU DO BEFORE THAT? I was, and still am, an electronics technician. Not many opportunities to be artistic there. WHAT DO YOU NOW BESIDES FACE AND/OR BODY PAINTING? I enjoy working on cars/trucks, gas welding, playing guitar and keyboard, and creating things from Lego's with my 4-year old son. WHAT PAINT BRANDS ARE YOUR FAVORITES? WHY? Snazaroo is what I started with and still primarily use, mainly because it's really easy to remove and it's pretty inexpensive. We have a few Wolfe colors at home that I've dabbled with as well. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING TO PAINT? Anything that makes people say "Wow!", whether it's a striking color combination or it's a creative concept that they haven't seen before. IS THERE SOMETHING ELSE ABOUT YOUR CAREER AS A FACE/BODY PAINTER THAT YOU WOULD LIKE OTHERS TO KNOW ABOUT? I'm always eager to learn more about this amazing art form. I don't know if it will ever become more than just a hobby for me, but I do want to further my skills as much as possible. Click here to see more about this face and body painting contest winner
	Alison Kenyon			Anabel Rodas
	Anabel Rodas			Arla Albers
	Lisa Smiley			Robin Granstrom
	S'anna McKerracher		(make sure to also see winners from the Jan. 2010 Just Faces Category) Current Contests | Rules To Enter | Sponsors | Host | Forum | Resources | Directory | Home

You are also welcome to join the West Coast Face Painters, a free online support group of face painters, mainly centered on the West side of North America.