So, I figured the other day that I wanted to write a blog post about how is it to live with a Face Painter.
I know there are a lot of hubbies, and some wives too, that might not quite understand what the Face Painter’s job is.
I have heard and read many Face Painters comments about how sometimes family is not supportive enough.
I wanted to tell the way I see a Face Painter’s job, so maybe you can share with your family… and at the same time, I wanted you to see what we, husbands of painters, see.
One of the first things I noticed is that no matter where I am in my house, I can always find a brush, and I mean always! There are a couple of them in my tooth brush holder, some with the creams, and the soap. There are some drying with the silverware, and others next to my computer. I have found one in my shoe, and underneath the pillow, and thank God there is none in my food!
I can find them also in the car, the shower, and sometimes even in my drinks! And that brings me to the second most interesting and maybe dangerous part of living with a Face Painter: my drinks! Any cups with any liquid can turn into Face Painting water! Every time I grab a drink I have to test it and make sure that it is drinkable. We don’t have enough cups at home, because, you need one in the kitchen when painting while cooking, one in the dining room for painting while eating, on in the bed for painting while sleeping, and one in the bathroom (and I hope it never leaves it) for painting while …. While reading a magazine.
NEVER, NEVER leave your cup close to a face painter, she will turn it into a face painting cup with her magic brush … I wish it was gold, but not, it is just dirty water!
I have woke up a couple of times thinking I had some weird disease… my arms were purple, and green, and red. Then I realized, my wife has it too! Oh no, wait a minute, is paint! Yes, paint is everywhere! And in my house, everywhere for real! I never thought I was going to have paint underneath the couch, in my hallway, in my living room, in my dining room… paint paint paint.
But lucky me, painters also like glitter! You should see the face of the cashier at the supermarket when I go there all covered in glitter and I stop to look at the e.l.f. cosmetic stand to see what is new. Yeah, not your average customer right?
Better yet, when I go to pick up my daughter at school…. I think I now know why she walks a couple of feet away from me until we get in the car. All other dads are wearing ties, or covered in oil, or brick dust… I… I am covered in glitter.
On the bright side, at least I look pretty in all the family pictures!
Now, if you think that those ladies during the 80’s were wearing too much makeup, have you ever dated a Face Painter? I asked once my wife if she could wear some makeup for our night out, I just wanted to see how she looked with beauty makeup. Two minutes later she came out of the bathroom with a butterfly mask! Yeap, that was her idea of fancy makeup for a night out. And I always thought that my mom’s red lipstick was a little too much ….
Now, I have had the pleasure of working with my wife during some of her gigs as a balloon twister. It was during those gigs that I actually understood what she does for a living.
I always thought she painted faces. I thought that was her job. It sounded like an easy to do job. Grab a brush, put some paint on it and make a pretty design on a face. Piece of cake, right?
I figured, I know how to draw, I have played with tempera before, this shouldn’t be any harder. You don’t need a degree for that, right?
Well, I try it for the first time with my daughter… and one time was enough to realize that while a degree might not be a requirement to paint faces, my 5th grade art class wasn’t enough either!
My First Face Painting Ever
Yeah, I realized that what my wife was doing was an art form. She was actually doing unique designs on each face. She was making people look different; she was bringing the best out of them.
As an artist, she needed inspiration, and she was finding it in those little faces she was painting.
I found out that she has a really hard job. She can’t take years planning a face, she only has a couple of seconds to listen to what her “customer” wants, and when she is done, she has to start all over again, right away.
But, even though I now knew her job wasn’t easy, I was still wrong about what my wife does for a living.
You might think, ok, my wife is an artist, and that is a real job, complicated. But no, really, I think a Face Painter is more than that.
After doing a couple of gigs with her I realized that my wife’s job wasn’t to paint faces. Not really, her job was to make people happy!
Now, that is a job! Yes, she is not there to paint their faces, she is there to entertain them, to make them laugh, to make them feel good, to make them feel nice about themselves. Her job suddenly got A LOT more complicated! What a responsibility! She has to make people happy, after all, she paints at parties, not at business meetings (but maybe she should start painting at those meetings, because boy, those need some happiness!).
So, I realized my wife is what I would call a Professional of Happiness, and, as a professional, she never stops doing her job. She is one of the happiest persons I ever met. She is always singing and smiling, making people laugh, talking crazy, making no sense, working hard with a smile on her face.
A Face Painter can bring so much light into your house that you barely even need to turn on your lights at night. A Face Painter adds color to your rooms, and sheets. A Face Painter makes a room warm even during Michigan’s cold winters. A Face Painter will make you laugh, even when you just drank a big cup of dirty water full of paint.
I really think there is a giving heart inside every Face Painter. They give up their weekends and sometimes their families, to make others happy. They make people happy even when they are sick or feeling blue (because Face Painters don’t feel sad, they feel blue), or when they are tired. No matter what, they smile, they fill your face with joy, they make you look great and feel great.
They are nurses for our souls, they are smile makers, they add a little bit of funkiness to our world.
So yeap, that is how it feels to live with a Face Painter, at least in my house, with my wife, that I love.
Santi
Oshi’s first Face Painting on me
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