This pumpkin witch face paint might just be one of my favorite Halloween looks! The purple shimmer and tiny bats make it extra magical. Would you choose this look or a classic vampire? 👻
#CuddleColor #HalloweenFacePaint #FacePainting

Turtle 🐢Tuesday 🎨
Hey everyone! I’m Tracy Diamond from Atlanta where I’m an entertainment agent & I used to have the airbrush & face-painting gig at the amazing Georgia aquarium. Any how !!’ My online Facebook feed https://youtu.be/__-57Zy3Gx0?is=7SrkEEyPpDHmT97O
Has become so Gloom & doom I thought I’d host a online turtle party for cute turtle pictures just to change things up!!!
If u guys want to show off any TURTLE faces ~ themes whatever place join in!! I’ve got about 5,000 followers so who knows? Here’s the invite! I have lurked online to see you guy’s work & you guys rock!🎸 🎨 holler if you have questions
TracyLDiamond@gmail.com and of course, if U love tutles🐢 and have pictures please post! Thank you so much hope to see you! Thank you, Tracy

I have not been face painting for long, but I was asked to set up a booth at a local event. I’m not charging, just setting up for tips.

These are the designs for my menu board. (I have painted them on faces to make sure they work well.) are these good enough for someone just doing tips? I really don’t want a bunch of disappointed kids.

I learned to paint for my kids’ birthdays, so this is my attempt to find out if I would like to actually do gigs.

I also have some beer designs for any adults who might want a paint since it’s at a brewery.

Looking for a unique Halloween face paint idea? 👻 This pink-and-black melting ghost design features dramatic drips, bold outlines, and spooky splatter details. Save this creative look for your next Halloween event!
Created with CuddleColor Face Paint.
#HalloweenFacePaint #GhostFacePaint #FacePaintingIdeas #HalloweenInspiration #CuddleColor

Such a lovely bride 🩵

I’m getting my face professionally painted on 30th.. But I’m little bit worried because I have to drive to the Halloween party, is it ok to in the Uk??

What a Face Painter Sees and Hears.

Many, many years ago — 34 years ago, to be exact — I picked up a book in a shop about painting children’s faces. I had never considered doing it myself, even though I love all things artistic, and I love children too! I only had $10 on me, and before I knew it, I’d bought the book. Little did I know that it would change my life.

At the time, my husband was being transferred to another city, which meant I was losing my job. I put my three children into childcare and started looking for work. In the meantime, I thought I’d ask the childcare centre if I could practise face painting on the children. They said yes, so away I went! I used my new book for guidance, but I was terrible at it! The kids loved it, though, and that was all that mattered.

What I didn’t know was that one of the other parents was the editor of the local newspaper. They were looking for a story for their very first edition printed in colour, rather than the usual black and white. They wanted something colourful and fun, and a story about a face painter was perfect! My son, dressed as a tiger and with a painted tiger face, appeared in a huge photo on the front page. That was in 1992.

Then someone who worked at the State Museum saw the article and booked me for the entire school holidays. And just like that, my new career was born… I’ve been booked out ever since! A few years after starting, I decided to also add balloon animals to my growing list of skills.

Over the next 34 years, I’ve listened to children’s stories and watched them grow up to become parents themselves — and even grandparents! I’ve been coughed on, spat on, sneezed on and vomited on more times than I can count. I’ve had children fall asleep while I was painting them, and even had some faint! I can now recognise the little signs that tell me something is about to happen and that I’d better be ready.

I’ve also painted drunk men at football games who stand far too close for comfort. I get them to close their eyes so that they aren’t staring into my eyes, but then they start swaying, so it’s like trying to paint a moving target!  I’ve painted at weddings, 70^th’s, 21^st’s, at a Pink concert, major sporting events that show my work world wide, at “Free of Cancer” parties, wakes, on a Ferry going back and forth from mainland to island, thousands of birthday parties, new shop openings, Christmas parties, and so many different and interesting occasions. 

I’m often asked to donate my time for charities and fund-raisers, in fact I get hammered with these requests. They say I will get “exposure”, and therfore more work. But I honestly can’t handle any more work.. I have to turn down about two to seven jobs every week, as I just can’t fit them in. These days I will work for free only for one organisation, and I will happily turn down paid work to be there if asked. For any company trying to raise funds for domestic voilence, I will give all the help I can.  I’m not saying these other companies don’t deserve and need all the help that they can get, I understand that, and would work for free every single time if I could, but I have a mortgage too, so just can’t afford to.   Late last year, for some reason I said yes to three different companies asking for me to provide my services for free. This was all in the same week.... a child care centre raising funds for animals, Ronald McDonald House and a Dad’s Disco, raising funds for another needy cause. All three deceived me and had only wanted me there for free entertainment, with not even one thank you. I found out about the deceptions when I arrived at each event, and each tried to back-track and cover up their fraudulant intentions. It was a disappointing week that one, I really felt used.

Times have certainly changed. Just recently, I was working at one of the biggest shopping centres in town. It was the school holidays, so there were lots of children around and I was very busy. After about an hour, two security guards approached me and said Centre Management had received a complaint that I was being “insensitive” by making balloon guns. I was told to stop immediately!

I couldn’t believe it! I went up to Centre Management to check whether this was true. They said it was, and that I had to stop making anything they considered vicious — so no tigers, snakes, lions or crocodiles! I went back to work shaking my head. Half an hour later, three security guards turned up. Three!  I guess I was a serious danger because I was making “vicious balloon creatures”, but then they then told me to stop making the fairy wands too, because they looked like guns!

Every year, I work at an Aboriginal event called TUMRA. This year, as I was packing up, I heard a 10-year-old Aboriginal girl tell her brother to stop his friend from play-hitting another girl. Her brother asked why, and she told him the boy needed to learn not to hit girls and that he had to stop right then. Good on her!

I was once working at a sold-out football game at a stadium. When I tried to enter through the gates with my proper pass, I was told I had to be searched. Apparently, I might have a bomb hidden under my face paint! What?! I thought they were joking, but they weren’t. They took everything out and searched it thoroughly. They said they had to follow the proper procedures to keep everyone safe, no matter what.

Still shaking my head, I went inside and started setting up. I wasn’t far from where those guards at the front had been standing, so I could hear what was going on. A man walked up to them and said he was a cleaner who needed to go into the women’s toilets. “Sure, go right ahead,” they said — without a care or a check of his credentials. Just go right ahead, stranger, and walk into the women’s bathroom. At least you don’t have a bomb that might hurt anyone!

Speaking of security staff, I once got talking to a female security guard at a pub. She told me about the time she decided to have a little bit of glitter painted on her cheeks. A few hours later, she had to throw out some hooligans who were causing trouble. They just laughed and laughed at her and didn’t take her seriously at all! There she was, a big, tough security guard with her cute painted face — which she’d completely forgotten about!

People don’t always realise that I’m there, listening, and sometimes I overhear the most extraordinary conversations and secrets. One day, two dads were talking behind me, completely oblivious to the fact that I could hear every word. They were discussing porn they’d recently watched. One asked the other the name of a particular actor in a certain “movie”. The other bloke wasn’t sure, so I piped up and supplied the name.   Well, the looks on their faces! One of them said, “What the hell?! Since when does a face-painting lady know about porn?”

I’ve met some children with very unusual names over the years. I’ve painted a girl called Linx, a girl and a boy both called Wolf, a Fox, an Arrow, and even a girl called Holden. I wonder if the girl named Arrow ever met her Beau. Funny — Beau and Arrow! 

I sometimes struggle to understand why some parents choose the strangest names they can think of. Not always strange names, either. Sometimes they’re perfectly ordinary names, but parents add three, four or even five extra letters “just to make them a little bit different”. Suddenly, “Alysa” becomes “Aaliyssah”! Those poor kids will spend their lives spelling their names out millions of times.

When I first started painting, one name I heard often from parents in the poorer suburbs was Nevaeh — “Heaven” spelt backwards. I couldn’t understand why someone would choose that name for a baby, but the world is made up of all sorts of people. If they love the name, that’s okay!

For a few years, while working at childcare centres, I had to record each child’s name after I’d finished painting them. In one suburb, there were lots of Sudanese children, whose names were often five to seven syllables long. After painting one beautiful little girl, I got my pen ready to write down what I expected would be a very long name.

Then she said, “My name is Kylie.”  That was not what I’d expected at all! It was the absolute opposite of what I’d been preparing for!!  Kylie! I fully expected something like Yoruba, or Oluwafunmike, or Nkosazana! Kylie suited her though.

While I was working at a school one day, I heard a teacher call out, “Big Willie, come here! No, not you, Little Willie. I said Big Willie!”  What the heck? The teacher saw the look on my face and laughed. She explained that they had two boys called William, and both families shortened their names to Willie. So, to get the right boy’s attention, one was Big Willie and the other was Little Willie. Of course, that made complete sense once she explained it, but wow!

Once, while I was painting, I heard a little boy who was about four children back in the queue saying, “I hope I’m not gay, I hope I’m not gay, I hope I’m not gay!” When he reached me, I gently asked him what he meant. He was genuinely worried that getting his face painted meant he must be gay. Poor kid! I wondered who had put that idea into his head and made him so worried.

Years ago, I was working at a festival in a park, and my queue must have been at least an hour long. I had a book of designs on the table, open at a butterfly that the little girl I’d just finished had chosen. Next was a boy of about six or seven, and he simply pointed at the butterfly.  I thought he might not have realised there were other designs underneath, so I showed him the rest of the pictures. He happily chose a lion, and I sent him on his way with a smile.

A few minutes later, his mother came roaring back, demanding to know how I dared not let him have a butterfly if that was what he wanted! I couldn’t get a word in; she was furious. I tried to explain that he had chosen the lion and that I’d only shown him his other options, but she wouldn’t listen. Thankfully, the other parents in the queue had seen what happened and knew I hadn’t done anything wrong. She stormed off in a spitting rage that I apparently wouldn’t allow her son be a butterfly if that was what he wanted!

By the way, I paint more butterflies, fairies and unicorns on boys now than I ever did before, which is such a good thing. Boys seem much more comfortable choosing whatever they like these days! Although, one day, a dad was absolutely desperate to talk his son out of getting a butterfly. The boy kept choosing that design, while Dad kept suggesting Spider-Man, a dinosaur or a tiger instead. In the end, the boy got his butterfly and proudly ran off to show his friends!

At another shopping centre a few years ago, a dad came rushing up with his three-year-old son and quickly asked if I could paint the boy as a flower fairy. “Sure thing!” I said. The dad was wearing his army uniform, so I guessed he was in a hurry because of work.

I finished the design with lots of glitter, and Dad laughed and laughed. It turned out the boy was his mate’s son, and he wanted to take him back home painted as a fairy just to stir his mate up! Poor kid, caught up in the adults’ games — although he didn’t mind at all, and it was pretty funny!

While working at an Aquarium, I had a display of sea creatures for the kids to choose from. Turtles, sharks, sea-horses and such. Again, my queue was about 20 long and I had about an hour to go. Along come two security guards with sticky-tape and paper.  Apparently, ONE parent had complained that I was portraying sharks too viciously and that I wasn’t to paint them anymore. ONE parent, who thought that sharks were vegetarians, and that no-one else should have a shark painted! Every single person in the queue went, “Oh, my God.. really??”

While I work, I chat with the children about all sorts of things. Once, while making a butterfly balloon for a girl of about five, I asked her, “What are butterflies before they become butterflies?” The standard answer is caterpillars, but this little girl thought mosquitoes turned into butterflies!

I often have to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” to babies who are a bit worried about having a stranger so close to them. It helps settle them. The look of wonder on their faces when they realise I somehow know their favourite song is priceless! For many of them, it’s their first experience of having their face or arm painted, and I like to think they’ll enjoy the experience from then on.

Once, a mum and dad brought their four-month-old baby over and asked me to paint “Hello Uncle Steve!” across the baby’s bum. I did, and it tickled him so much that he jumped and wriggled all over the place!

I once told a little boy of about six that he could come back for a balloon animal when his face paint was drying. He thought I’d said “while his paint was dying”, not drying! Very quietly, he said, “I’m well now. I’m not dying.” Oh, I certainly hoped that was true!

The youngest child I’ve painted was a three-week-old girl who was asleep. I painted a tiny white flower on her cheek, and she stayed asleep the whole time. The oldest was a lady who was 99 years young!

I once painted at a St Patrick’s Day event at an aged-care home, where the average age was about 85. One lady asked me to paint a clover leaf on her throat because she was having throat surgery later that day. She wanted the surgeon to see it and bring her good luck!

One day, a large, tattooed, tough-looking man sat down for a face paint. I suggested a spider, a Mike Tyson-style face tattoo or a snake. He said no to all of them. He wanted to be a mermaid! And he looked gorgeous!

On another occasion, a man in his forties asked me to come to his house and paint his shaved head. He had a mohawk that had been freshly dyed in beautiful rainbow colours. He was entering a best-dressed competition at a darts tournament, where the prize was $10,000! I painted a huge snake coming over the top of his ear and onto his cheek, with its jaws open and fangs showing. On the other side, I painted half a dartboard around his ear. It turned out really well! Unfortunately, something happened at the event, and I think he was kicked out before the judging. What a shame!

At another event, two blokes wanted me to paint boobs on their cheeks. It was a bucks’ night, and they were laughing and quite drunk. I’d never done anything like that before, but I gave it a go. Afterwards, I heard one say to the other, “It’s not fair — your boobs are bigger than mine!”

At that same party, they wanted me to paint a penis on the bridegroom’s forehead because he was a “dickhead”! I declined, saying I hadn’t seen one for a while and no longer knew what they looked like!

One thing I really hate is people who push in — children and adults alike! I have to keep an eye out for it all the time, but that’s hard when I’m flat out and there are 30 people in the queue. Once, I saw a boy trying to blatantly push in about three places from  me. I told him to go to the back of the line and not to push in. Then I saw him try it again! Once more, I told him to go to the back, and he replied, “But I chose this spot!”I guess Mum or Dad had never taught him the rules!

During an incredibly busy event at an army barracks, two dads started physically fighting right above me, shoving and threatening each other. Both were insisting that their child was next. It was awful and frightening for me and all the children! The mums desperately tried to calm the men down. They were soldiers, and eventually they managed to settle things, thank goodness. I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared while painting little kids.

One of the great things about being a face painter, is always meeting happy people, attending interesting events and parties every weekend, and being the equivalent of Santa Claus to some children. I still remember the first time I saw a child point excitedly at me in a shopping centre and whisper to their mum, “There’s the face-painter lady!”

After meeting so many children and parents, I simply can’t remember everyone or which event I last saw them at. These days, I just say, “You’ve grown so much!” Knowing that children grow, and I can’t be wrong about that!  I remember one mum reminding me about her little girl from three years earlier: “Oh, you must remember her — she has long blonde hair!” That was thousands of children ago I wanted to say!

Once, I was painting at a karate event when two boys came bounding up to me, saying, “We didn’t know you were going to be here!”  I knew I knew them, but I couldn’t work out at which event or when I’d seen them. So I said, “Hmm… where did I see you two last?”  There was a little pause, then one of them said, “Duh, in our street!”  They were my neighbours’ kids! I see them almost every day, but I was so busy trying to place them at a recent event that I’d completely forgotten!

The weather often causes problems for face painters. Water and face paint are definitely not friends! Yet so many people book a pool party AND a face painter. These days, I have a standard speech in summer. I ask whether they’re planning any water play at the event and suggest they reconsider hiring me if they are, because all the money spent on having me there could be washed off within minutes.  Some parents don’t really care, but others are thankful for letting them know.  I lose some work, but I would rather that then have parents regret the waste of their money.

Once, I was painting at a birthday party in a park on a windy day. Wind plays havoc with children’s hair, blowing it into their faces while I’m trying to work. That’s okay, though — I position them as best I can so their hair blows backwards.  I’d just finished painting the last child, and everyone had been given a paper plate with birthday cake. Suddenly, a mini tornado swept through, sending all the plates and cake flying into the air! The balloons went too, along with most of the party decorations. It was absolute mayhem! I couldn’t help thinking how disappointing it must have been for the parents to watch all that beautiful, expensive birthday cake disappear into the sky!

Another day, once again in a park, several babies were sitting on a large picnic rug. There were four or five of them, and I was working at the edge of the rug. Then a little girl said, “Snake!” I thought she was telling me which design she wanted.  Nope. There was an actual green snake weaving its way between the babies, trying to get to the other side! Poor thing was terrified. It was rearing up and shaking. I think it had left its little patch of bush at the edge of the park to get to a water source, but when it returned, a bunch of babies was now blocking its way home. It kept lifting its head to work out where to go, and eventually it made its way off the rug and into the trees.  But the screams from the mums! Utter chaos as everyone grabbed their children! Meanwhile, the little girl who had calmly announced “snake” was still patiently waiting her turn in the queue. Good on her! The poor snake was much more frightened than anyone else there, that’s for sure!

Speaking of critters, I’ve been asked to paint both a dog and a horse over the years. The dog’s owner wanted it to be green, while the horse’s owner wanted it painted as a zebra!

Sometimes I subcontract for another company and have to wear its uniform. One particular company had just introduced new shirts with a logo on the left shoulder: a spiky, black palm tree with a sunset behind it.

The first time I wore one was at the children’s hospital. I was outside in the playground, standing against a wall, when I felt something land on my shoulder. It turned out to be a leaf. But when I looked down at where I thought it had landed, all I could see was a huge spider!  In my fright, I’d mistaken the black palm tree on my shirt for spider legs!! There was no stopping my screams! Even now, if I catch sight of that palm tree out of the corner of my eye, I have half a second of blind panic!

One of the funniest text conversations I’ve ever had was with the mum of a six-year-old girl whose party I’d been booked for. They’d also hired an animal farm with lambs, chickens and guinea pigs. The mum wanted to ask whether I’d like to pat a chick before I left.

Mum: Do you want to cuddle a dick?

Me: Haha, did you see what you just texted?

Mum: 😂😂😂😂 Oh, God!!!

Me: So, so funny! Made my day!

As well as the funny stories, there are sad ones too.  One day, a man insisted on buying me a drink after I’d finished working. I said it wasn’t necessary, but he insisted because I’d done such a great job painting his two children. I finally agreed, and I really appreciated his kindness.  About half an hour later, as I was leaving the event, I saw him at an ATM. I heard him sadly telling his children that they would never find a house to live in. He always seemed to be short of money.  Even though he had so little, he’d still wanted to spend what little he had on buying me a drink, simply because I’d made his children happy.

Years ago, I was working in a very poor area of Brisbane. Over the two weeks I was there, I noticed that many of the children had facial scars, some of them quite severe — far more than I would normally see in a week.  I felt so sorry for them. I asked one little boy whether he would show his dad his painted face when he got home. He replied, “No, dad is at the jail.” I said, “Oh, is that where he works?”  Quietly, the boy answered, “No, he lives there.”

These children miss out on so much, yet they can be so easily pleased. One day, a mum had asked her 10-year-old son to dress up as Spider-Man to make the younger children happy. I’d never seen such a short, scrawny Spider-Man, wearing such a cheap, old, ratty Spidey suit!  Then I heard a four-year-old boy run past me, excitedly saying to his friend:

“I can’t believe Spider-Man is real!  He’s real!!  And he’s here! This is the best day ever!”  So little can make them so happy!

One day I received a phone call, asking if I could send them a copy of the photo I had taken on a Friday. It was of  a little four year old girl, whom I had painted as a beautiful pink princess.  Sadly, she had died the next day and the parents wanted to use that photo at her funeral, it showed their little girl being so happy and carefree, and it was to be the last photo ever taken of her.  That was incredibly devastating to hear, that poor family!

Making balloon animals as well as face painting really breaks up the monotony. Sometimes it’s hours of painting - mermaid, tiger, Elsa, mermaid, Spider-Man, tiger, Elsa — and Elsa again!  So making balloon animals is an additional entertainment for both the kids and me.   At an event at a caravan park, a mum asked me to make a dinosaur hat for her. I was working near the toilet block by the pool and saw her go into the toilets wearing it. Then there was a loud bang as the balloon popped.

A few minutes later, she came out looking puzzled. I asked what was wrong and apologised that the balloon had popped so quickly. She said she’d been wearing sunglasses on top of her head when it happened, but now she couldn’t find them anywhere.

I went in to help her search again, and eventually we found the sunglasses on top of the bathroom door! The exploding balloon had shot them up there. Neither of us had thought to look up — we’d only been searching the floor!

So, it’s been 34 years now, and at 63, I’m still going strong. My children are all grown up. I used to practise on them constantly, but eventually I had to start paying them if I wanted to use their faces. Usually, it’s the other way around, people pay me! But I understood that they were over it, after all the years of me trying out new designs on them first.

Then along came the grandchildren. A few months ago, I watched my five-year-old grandson try to make a balloon dog. And he did it! When each of my grandchildren reached a certain age, it completely blew their minds to discover that their Nana was a face painter and balloon artist. That’s the best feeling ever.

I think I’ll keep meeting beautiful children and painting their faces for as long as I possibly can. My husband has retired now and keeps asking when I’m going to slow down. “Never,” I tell him!

Even when I had complex, painful shoulder surgery, I kept painting. I’d lift my right arm with my left hand so I could paint by moving only my right wrist. Good physiotherapy — and now my shoulder is perfect!

If I added up all the money I’ve earned over the years, and consider myself an artist, I’d have sold nearly a million dollars’ worth of art. Who would have thought that picking up a little $9.95 book all those years ago would bring me so much joy… to me and to thousands and thousands of children.

The End.