Shannon Fennell reports back from her trip to the US Body Painting Festival.

It was close to midnight when I finally arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico to compete in the US Body Painting Festival.  I got settled into my room, but I had to unpack before I did anything as I was worried about leaks.  And I was right… my Parian Spirit (a brush cleaner) had managed to pop off two lids and even though wrapped in Press’n’Seal plastic wrap, it had leaked out and saturated the sponges and other items that were in the lidded plastic container with it.  The lid on this container had also popped off but the sponges inside soaked up the liquid before it escaped into the rest of the suitcase! 

Also had the bottoms of four of my Fardel pumps pop out, but the tension from the Press’n’Seal kept the bottoms in position and didn’t let the containers leak.  That Press’n’Seal is awesome stuff… without it there would have been total carnage in my suitcase!  As it was, I was up until 2.00 am washing sponges and un-wrapping all my make-up.  Luckily I was in a suite and laid everything out on the dining room table and counters in the kitchenette.

The next day, Thursday was all workshops and a buffet dinner provided, and a jam in the evening that would be open to the public.

I attended Jackie Green’s session first thing in the morning on Body Painting Basics, and managed through superior cunning and my competitive streak to corner her model, Jennifer, and recruit her to be my model for the rest of the festival!  I needed a specific body type for my designs and she was perfect.  I gave her my card to prove I was a professional, and she said that I would have to check with the model coordinator but she was willing.  I did, as was allowed to get away with making my own arrangements.

I was really lucky to get Jennifer as my model – she is gorgeous, patient, professional and enthusiastic, as well as being prompt, prepared and very careful once painted.  She made me more comfortable as she was so comfortable with the process.  And… if I go again, she is booked!

The jam on Thursday night was a little different from your typical face painting jam.  The artists all show up, grab a table and set up their kits and then members of the public, who paid to get in, would go to an artist and ask for something.  Some artists brought their own models and were working on specific things as well.  Some were painting faces, some body parts, some whole bodies.

Pam Trent, one of the organizers was walking by and saw I didn’t have anyone in my chair so she brought over a woman for me to paint.  This lady had a catalogue and wanted the cover art painted on her chest as a surprise for her boyfriend.  It was a fantasy art piece of a horse with a maiden in flowing fabric.  I said, sure I can paint that for you… if you don’t mind it in different colours.  She didn’t, and said she would go change and be right back.  I wasn’t sure what “change” meant as I wasn’t clear how much “chest” she wanted painted…

Well, she came back wearing a satin robe, thong and pasties.  She told me she was a nudist.  That answered my question about how much I was painting… now my mind was whirling about how to position the horse across the breasts!  I am really pleased with how it turned out… the horse was excellent… sometimes I get them right and this one worked.  I used Fardel Cremes with WB Black, White and Gold for details.  The base of the whole design was Fardel Pearl White and I just built up the colours on top of that, and then also used the Pearl white to soften the lines of the black details to make the fabric look more sheer.  She was really happy with it and I think her boyfriend liked it too!

After that I was done for the night so packed up and left around 10:30 p.m.  The Jam went on until well after midnight… I heard some interesting stories the next few days about what I missed!

Friday morning I attended a workshop with Pat Berrett one of the official photographers. He was talking about how to photograph our own work.  This was one of the best and most useful sessions I have ever attended.  Pat explained positioning your subject, background colours and materials, lighting, how to use some common camera features and his position on using Photoshop.  The most useful thing I got that I was able to use right away was to have the model stand at least six feet in front of the backdrop/wall as this will eliminate shadows and to stand back and use the zoom to take the photos, not stand in their face and use the macro settings.  The camera records the same information whether you are 10 feet away or 2 inches, so you will get a better photo of a subject when you are not right in their face and personal space!  They are more relaxed and you will get a better photo because of that!  I used everything I learned for the rest of the festival and he was right!

I also attended a session with Vargas who demonstrated painting fabrics and clothing, creating depth and shadows.  He also discussed lighting and fixing a light source so that you can create the shadows and effects that will fit with your lighting for the photography.

The competition painting was to begin at 2 and end at 7 pm  I was in the room at noon.  I was a little anxious, yes, but also wanting to make sure to get a good spot and a good table.  I was there first so managed to get myself the 6 ft table - I really did need it!   I had a couple of comments made about me being so early, but I was there to compete and wanted to have things set-up for my comfort and that of my model!  I was able to take my time to arrange things and review my sketches and visualize the end product now that I knew what my model actually looked like.

Jennifer arrived at 1.00 pm and we went to the ladies room to apply her pasties. It appeared that only festival people were in the restroom so Jennifer took off her top and I started to apply the pasties – then several women popped out of the stalls who weren’t with the festival and appeared a little shocked… oops!

We went back to the ballroom and chatted about the design application process, the make-up I was using, how to remove it later, etc.  I had put my travel clock on the table right in my eye line to keep track of where I was at – I knew how much time I needed to complete the focal point and had to make sure to keep on a tight schedule. I was really worried about timing as 5 hours is not really all that long.

I had decided early on that I was going to use Fardel crèmes and Paula Southern of Amazing Faces in the UK shipped me the colours I needed.  I wanted the pump dispensers – they are the greatest thing!  I also used Tim Gratton Body Paint in black.  This is an acrylic body paint made in Australia and it is approved and available in Canada too.  It has a wonderful finish and total coverage.  I also used Fantasy Worldwide crèmes (in colours I didn’t have in the Fardel) and some Wolfe Bros.

People were fascinated with the Fardel, including most of the instructors and some of the judges.  Many had never heard of it and asked all sorts of questions about how to apply it, can you use it with water, etc.  Everyone commented on the vivid colours and smooth blending. The Tim Gratton black also was of great interest due to the ease of application and matte finish.

I had pre-ordered custom wigs for my designs and had to take Jennifer over to the wig room during the painting time to get the wig on.  They had a whole crew there and the wigs and head pieces were simply amazing.  The cost to have a custom design made to your specifications was only $25 USD per wig!  Well worth the small additional expense!

For the first round we were actually finished early!  I couldn’t believe it! I had been so worried about time and had carefully paced myself… then the final part of the process actually took less time than expected.  So we were done about 50 minutes early.  I could have kept tweaking but knew better and left well enough alone.  Since we were done, we went to the photo studio to get our photos done before the rush.  Then we went back to the ballroom and I started to clean things up.  The judges weren’t ready so we had to wait.

They had all the artists and models assemble in a screened off hallway outside the judges room and we went in one at a time (artist with model).  I actually don’t know who the judges all were – there were five.  I knew two – Craig Tracy and Vargas – as they had been instructors earlier, but no idea who the others were.  They asked us to explain our designs and how we came up with them, point out features, or asked specific question about things they saw.  I found them very complimentary and it was a great feeling.

After the judging the models had to stay in the hallway and wait until they were to be presented on stage at 9 p.m.  I really feel sorry for them… they are painted, can’t sit on furniture, are nearly naked and it was bloody cold, can’t go to the bathroom…. There wasn’t any food available the first night so I took Jennifer her bag and some water and candies/nuts to nibble.  I went and finished packing my kit and took it back to my room.

The public part of the event started at 7.00 pm with a stage show of drummers and belly dancers.  The public could buy tickets to the event and if they wanted to take photos they had to buy a camera permit (although I’m pretty sure we saw people without wristbands taking photos!)

We had to provide music to go with our work – for my first design “Bats” I had 3 minutes of bat noises.  Flapping wings and screeching.  The audience really responded well to Jennifer, she looked gorgeous.  When all the models had done their thing we all had to go back on stage, artists and models.  Then they announced the placing for the first round.  I was in second place!  Jennifer said she thought we should have been first!  She was a real sweatheart.  First place was an amazing painting.

The next morning, Saturday, I went to a session on face painting and got myself painted in colours that would match my model that evening – it would save me having to do something later for the party!  I made my self eat a proper lunch that day too as I hadn’t the day before and suffered a bit for it.  Then I went early again to make sure I got “my” spot and table.

The process went pretty much the same as day one of the competition.  I had not spent as much time on visualizing this design, and also, after seeing the UV display the night before, wanted to punch it up with some UV paints, so wasn’t as sure about timing as I had been with the first one.  I wanted to add the UV colours but not change my design or the main colours.  Also on this design I had four major areas to work on as opposed to two on the first design, and there was a lot more detail.  We went right to the wire on this painting, but by keeping my eye on the clock and bouncing around the design it all worked.  I made sure to have all the bases done, then added details in stages all over the design; my theory being that if I ran out of time then the design overall would be at the same level of completion and it would not look as unfinished as having a completely blank area.  Generally that worked and there was only one spot that almost got missed but I caught it at the last minute.

We went and got our photos taken – this time they had set-up a UV light rig and backdrop so we had blacklight photos taken as well.   Jennifer looked awesome again!

This evening there was a buffet out in the ballroom so I went and got Jennifer some food and we waited around to be judged.  This time we were the last sponge and brush contestant to be judged.  Again, Craig Tracy did most of the talking.   Vargas asked if I had done the blending on the legs with an airbrush, I said no, sponges.  Craig Tracy then explained to the other judges that getting that smooth finish with a sponge is extremely difficult.  They asked me why the hands were painted turquoise - I explained that I had intended to paint all the sky areas midnight blue as it was night, but that the colour was too dark and needed contrast so I blended in teal and turquoise to brighten it.  Craig commented that the hands were striking against the orange head (um, never even occurred to me!)

After the judging I got Jennifer a plate of food and went and took my kit back to my room and put on my award accepting “Alberta Canada” t-shirt.

The Wolfe Bros in full make-up were the MC’s for the evening – one was a zombie and the other was the Wolfman.  Jennifer got lots of ooh and ahs in the black light.  We borrowed a sword from the “Angel of Death” who was in the airbrush category so that Jennifer could chop off some heads while presenting the painting on stage.

After all the art was presented they brought everyone on stage again and made the presentations in reverse order.  I ended up second overall and got a trophy and a “cheque is in the mail.”  The top three were in the same order as in the first round.

I had a great experience painting at the US Body Painting Festival.  These two body paintings were only my 3rd and 4th full bodies.  I tend to only paint “parts” at home so I thank the lady with the horse on her chest at the jam (would you believe I didn’t get her name?) and Jennifer my model, for letting me paint them.

I also met a lot of “internet buddies” and friends from past events which is always a highlight of attending events like this!  Everyone was friendly and willing to share – be it borrowing pencil sharpeners or giving someone a pack of wipes!  Competitors in the face and body painting field I have found are very friendly all over the world and this event was no exception.

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Photo Credit for full body photos:
Pat Berrett, Photographer, 2521 Madison NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110
505-881-0935 Studio, 505-453-5200 Cell, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Photo Credit for photo: Bluehorse: Shannon Fennell:  www.shannonfennell.com