Face Painting

I got out my Klutz® Face Painting kit this morning. Since it has been a few years since I've done anything like this, I started out by practicing on my arms. (Yes, both of them. I'm teaching my left hand to paint, too. The designs were okay, but I didn't take any left-handed photos of them.)

I chose blue paint so it would look a little like woading. I'll probably need to dilute it down more next time so I can get a softer, layered look.

The first thing I painted was a trefoil knot on the palm side of my left arm. After that I marked out the dotted line that spirals from my elbow to my wrist bone.

 Next I made a sort of starburst with a spiral at its center.

The final and trickiest design I painted on my left arm was a set of Borromean rings. My Borromean rings often end up a bit oblong, but I'm not bothered by it given that I had to twist my arm back on itself so I could see the area on the outside of the upper part of my lower arm.

All of that was leading up to a bit of face painting inspired by the female character in the Of Monsters and Men music video for "Little Talks." My interpretation leaves out the feathers and the gold leaf on the lips.

Next time I play with this look, I'll make the red areas larger and a little darker. I also need to work on getting the blue to be intense over the brow while still fading to white on the forehead.

Other plans for experimentation:

• Sculptural, flesh-toned dots for both this look and the characters from "King and Lionheart" (may be achievable by soaking bits of tissue, cotton fluff or puffed cereal in paint and using the wet paint to adhere them)
• The fingers from "Crystals" (I can't imagine doing the eye effect, though it is wonderfully creepy)