My Recent Fun with Floral Body Painting!

Me with Star Walker (right)  & Alyssa Kluver (left) of Stumbling Star Stilt Performers!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of painting two lovely models at a floral/fashion show through the wonderful folks at My FAB Events! The models I painted were Star Walker and Alyssa Kluver of "Stumbling Star Stilt Performers!"  These ladies have so many talents...stilt walking, fire dancing, and more...and Star Walker actually made these amazing flower costumes for this event as well!

My work began a few days ahead when I had received photos of the dresses and told which flower they represented.  So, I set to work sketching some ideas for purple roses and red poppies! Below are a few shots from my sketchbook, along with the face designs which I actually practiced on my own leg first...

Pics from my sketchbook, and practice face designs done on my leg!

Pics from my sketchbook, and practice face designs done on my leg!

Here are a couple pics of the setup I used...we were given a conference room to work in:

Painting, in action... I had 2 hours to spend on each model. Read on to find out more about what I did and what tools & paints were used...

 

Star Walker as the purple rose

Alyssa Kluver as the Poppy

How I did it:

Here are some of the products that I used! Scroll down for descriptions of what I used where, as well as links to find them in the shop...

I started with a pearly white base of FAB White Shimmer (A), applied with a Kabuki brush (B).  Kabuki brushes are a great way to apply a fast, even base if you're like me and are not a fan of sponges.

With only 2 hours to paint each model, I utilized my stencils to make quick work of the backgrounds and textures, so I could focus more attention on making amazing flowers.  I used my BAM 2027 stencil (C) with a little Wolfe white on both of their foreheads to add an element of lace to the background, applied with finger daubers (G), before moving into the flowers.

Now if this were to be seen from a distance on a stage, I would have done more large, exaggerated flowers.  However, since these models were to be seen up close by the customers, I paid more attention to detail. 

For the roses, my TAG Black Iris cake (I) came in handy, and I applied it with my favorite one stroke brush, TAG's #12 Flat (K).  I then went over everything with brighter purples, blending highlights and deeper shadows with my Loew Cornell #5 round brush (M).

This was the first time I have used my BAM 1031 stencil (D), and it worked great for creating bunches of greenery baby's breath to fill in around the roses and wind around and up the neck.  Using finger daubers (G) and some dark green paint, I laid down a layer of greenery.  I then was able to quickly create little baby's breath blossoms using one of my small wood daubers (F) and some Wolfe white.  Just load, press and twist! I finished them off with a little dot of green in the centers using my #1 Loew-Cornell round brush (N).  Later I added a few highlights to the leaves, as well as some dots and "ribbons."

For the poppies, I used a lot of Paradise Beach Berry (H) for the base of the flowers.  What really made them pop was the little bit of shading I added with Paradise black, and highlights using Paradise Brilliant Orange.  I love using the metallic colors for highlighting, because they catch real light and add to the depth and realism! My Global Deep Merlot was also great for adding more depth to the poppies!  The yellow centers really popped with a little yellow glitter and bling (O)!

The leaves were done using my TAG Snake cake (J), applied with a 1/2" Loew-Cornell brush (L).  I like using Tag Snake for my leaves as opposed to their leaf yellow or leaf white, because of the extra strip of black.  It adds more depth and helps to outline itself! I didn't do baby's breath around the poppies, so instead I used my BAM 2028 stencil (E) with a little Wolfe white, applied with finger daubers (G) for some extra texture and detail.

Both of the ladies' designs really popped when I added a touch of Liquid Bling (O), especially in the sparkling halogen lights of the retail floor!  After being painted, the models spent the next couple hours having their photos taken with customers in a fun photo booth! :-)

Thanks so much for stopping by! Happy painting!! :-)

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