At the end of August this year, body painters from all over the UK and from Belgium gathered in a field in Mersham (near Ashford), Kent. Why were they there? To take part in the UK’s first ever body painting festival!

The festival was organised by the UK Body Painting Guild with the aim of being the first of many such festivals - and one that in time and with enough support and funding could even rival the World Body Painting Festival held each year in Seeboden, Austria.
 
This year’s festival was held in a field behind the Farriers Arms pub in the small village of Mersham and saw an eclectic collection of marquees, camper vans, caravans and tents within which people could not only paint but also sleep onsite.  The main circle was made up of an open marquee where the painters painted their models, a refreshment marquee, a tent for the judges, a stage for the models to parade on and several stalls selling a wide range of body painting accessories and equipment.

Some of the companies exhibiting at the event were Dauphines, Three Kings and Fantasy Worldwide and they were displaying a wide range of paints and accessories from familiar names like Snazaroo, Ben Nye and Mehron to more recent additions to the market like the Wolfe range of colours. Food and drink was available for both visitors and competitors either in the refreshment marquee or in the adjacent pub.

The first day of the festival began in the morning with the face painting & head dress competition, with separate sections for both adults and children; the theme for the adult face painting was “Reptilian” and for the children was “Just 3 colours”. They had an hour to create their design and then present it to the judges.

Then in the afternoon it was the turn of the body painters, their theme was “Environmental Magic” and they had 4 hours to create and finish their design and then present it to the judges. The day was fairly overcast and cool, not the best of conditions for standing around naked aside from body paint but at least it wasn’t raining.

There was a wide range of ideas that emerged from the stimulus of “Environmental Magic” including a Native American design complete with totem poles down the legs by Ruth Mills, the four elements surrounding a silver pentagram by Sally Barton and a complete galaxy with shimmering planets and stars by Nancy Degryse. Also on the first day there was a special competition taking place within the body painting event, and that was for the body painters to include the butterfly logo of Pilgrims Hospice within their overall design, this logo would then be judged by a representative from the Pilgrims Hospice. I think almost all of the painters tried to include it in their work but the winner was Peter Rigby for his design which saw the logo emerging from beneath an open shirt on the chest of his model Mark Dennis.

The second day of the festival brought sunshine with it. The day had the same format as the first with the face painting in the morning and the body painting in the afternoon. The themes for today’s competitions were: adult face painting “The Circus”, children’s face painting “Freestyle” and for the body painting “Gods and Demons”. Designs for the body painting included a Greek god complete with painted monuments and clothes by Claudia Mende, a Buddha design inspired by a 70’s TV show by John Marriott and a very scary looking demonic woman (“Lilith”) complete with large black wings by Vanessa Wayne.

Competitors were judged on the designs they created over both days of the competition and as well as awarding first, second and third places there was a special award for novice body painter of the year. The main awards were all sponsored by the Three Kings (theatrical make up suppliers) and the novice award was sponsored by Fantasy Worldwide).

In the adult face painting Elke d'Haeyer and Franciska Caset tied for first place; Claire Hoskins was second and Kelly Caset was third.

The overall winner in the body painting competition was Sally Barton who created the amazing 4 elements around the pentagram design from the first day. Second place went to Nancy Degryse who created the stunning, shimmering solar system on the first day. Third place went to Vanessa Wayne who created the scary looking demonic woman complete with large black wings on the second day. The Novice Body Painter of the Year award went to Mariette Kuypers who produced striking designs on both days of the competition. I’m sure everyone will agree that it was a very tight competition though as there was such a high quality of work produced throughout the festival.

Thanks also need to go not only to the organising committee who I’m sure had many a sleepless night leading up to the festival but also all the volunteer models over the course of the two days, Andrew Evetts, Chris Finn-Kelsey, David Lapthorne, Jax, Jassent Owens, Luke, Maggie, Mark Dennis and Nick Crispini.

The festival had a lovely open and welcoming atmosphere and there were all ages of people there including some 4 legged visitors as well in the shape of various canine visitors although not all of them had a taste for body paint like our Pug does. It was good to be there as an observer and a non-body painter as everyone was extremely friendly and welcoming to me even though I had never met the majority of them before. Sometimes within groups of similar minded people cliques can exist and breaking through that as a newcomer can be more hassle than its worth, I’m glad to say that that is definitely not how things were here and I and my Pug was made very welcome.

So whether you are a seasoned professional face or body painter, a curious newbie, somewhere in between or even just there because your partner’s obsessed with it (mentioning no names of course) then do try and get along and support next year’s festival.  It needs your support to be able to grow and develop and it has already has the beginnings of being something rather special indeed.