Big projects

I mentioned earlier that this week is crazy. It's one of the busiest weeks of the year for me. Face painting business booms during the Halloween season. It's great for artists without families, but I don't want to miss creating memories with my children.

I've turned down several face painting jobs just so I can celebrate the holidays with my own children. I don't regret it one bit. I'll always have another chance to work another gig, but I'll only have one shot at enjoying the magic of Halloween this year with my own family. I feel so much joy in watching them experience the fun and spookiness of Halloween.

This is my husband's favorite holiday of the year. I think that has a bit to do with his birthday, which is in October. When he was little, he thought Halloween was his personal holiday. He plans out carnivals for us to host for friends, designs elaborate costumes, and bakes up a storm of Halloween treats and cookies.

One of the big projects on my plate is a huge trick-or-treat painting. I designed it for a game and am painting it on plywood. A full sheet of plywood. There are 3 haunted houses and the cemetery, and each of these has a little hinged door and a lighted doorbell. Children get to choose which doorbell to ring, then they open the door. After putting their hand through the doorway, they receive either a 'trick' or a 'treat'. Nathan wired the doorbells so they create spooky sounds. It's been a lot of work, but I think the children will really enjoy it. We are making it for our church's annual Halloween carnival. I'm glad that I have the opportunity to share my talents with others, even if it does mean a lot of late nights painting after the children are in bed. Since the project is too large to fit in my art studio, I've been painting in my living room and listening to documentaries while I work.

I'm simultaneously excited and nervous for Nathan's costume this year. He's won first place for a couple years at his company costume contest. Last year we did Dr Jekyll/Mr. Hyde as I learned the rudimentary beginnings of advanced face painting. Now I cringe when I see the painting- it's so anatomically wrong and too simplistic in technique. Be that as it may, he still won first place and it was delightful going to arestaurant for dinner and watching the people stare and stare at him. Literally every head in the restaurant was pointed to our corner.

This year I want to learn something new. Instead of merely painting an illusion, I want to do prosthetics. I've come up with my own design by piecing together several Hollywood-quality prosthetic pieces. He'll be wearing pointed ears, two horns, contorted eyebrows, a wolfish nose, and a long warty chin. I'm painting his nails black and gluing hair onto the backs of them. Can you guess what he'll be? I'll give you a clue- it's NOT a werewolf. Tomorrow is the work costume contest, so I'll be getting up extra early to spend a couple hours getting him ready. I'm really excited to learn something new, but I am also worried that the latex prosthetics might not accept the paint very well. It will either be really amazing, or a complete mess. Whatever it is, I'll post pictures tomorrow morning.