365 Days Painting ITP Interview

We all know that you finally completed painting 365 days! How long have you actually been painting now? Did you continue after completing 365 days? I’m now on 409 days of facepaint every day.

Can you let us know a little bit of your experience of painting every day for a whole year? For ex: did you almost forget to paint one day? Did any of your models ever get annoyed lol? My son already don’t want to model anymore. And sometimes he say; do you have to paint again??? And my house is permanently being glittered. When we’re are going on vacation there is a ways a mini- kit packed.

What is one of your favorite designs you’ve painted? Or one of your favorite themes? My favorite design… ppff hard one… I really love eye designs with a lot of sparkles… my favorite is the blue waves eye- design. But I really love my water colored lion, or my butterfly on my arm very much too.

Every month the ITP group gets new members; Can you give some tips to one of the new painters joining the group? Tips for new members… go with the flow, don’t try to much the first weeks. Just plan you’re paint and don’t go too extreme… when you’re a few weeks further and it’s in you’re system to paint every day then go for out of the box when you feel like it. It’s for practice every day not to impress all other people.

The ITP challenges have opened the doors to so many great opportunities for so many of us, can you name some opportunities that ITP has helped you with? So many opportunities, I’ve got now my own real business… I’ve been asked to teach at Jamvention October 2017. Insider made a video about me. I’ve got a 5 pages article in The Colored Palette, a blog on a Dutch webshop, and a collaboration with Crearose, I make designs for her stencils. And of course some great mentions, jobs, winnings in contest.

We all enjoy your work so much and we are dying to know…What are some of your favorite paints & brushes? My favourite paint is Superstar/ FAB especially the Shimmer colours… and don’t forget Ziva and Special purple. For black and white I use DFX or PartyXplosion. And for glitter, only Mehron, the best glitter there is. For brushes, Loew Cornell are my favorites, and especially the nr 2, and the petal flat nr 6.

What are some ways that all your practicing has impacted your business? Because I every day practice my techniques became so much better, and I’ve got more self confidence on a job. Because I posted my designs every day people noticed me more, and got more jobs. Because I was active on social media I met more colleagues and worked more together.

ITP has done so much more than just helped with practicing, it has also been the kim10 beginning of many beautiful friendships, what are some of the best friendships you have developed in the ITP group? No doubt about it, with Jade Gaal van der Vreede, she is one of my best friends now, we share so much more than only paint. We type to jam often but we don’t live very close to each other but we WhatsApp and call very frequently. She is just the sweetest and kind person there is. And because of the challenge i met Tink Menalda, she became a very good friend too. We started to work very much together and she’s helping me a lot to get more jobs. And we love working together, it’s so much fun! And with the girls from Muse Me, we share more than paint together and chat a lot, they are all great artist and lovely persons and hopefully we could meet someday.

If you could choose a theme for next month’s challenge; what would it be? Theme for next month… a freehand glitter tattoo.. meant not completely face paint but you still need to paint and you can make such great things with glitter and glue!

Who is one of your favorite artist in the Face Painting industry? My Favorite painter….. so hard, there are so many great artist…..I think I’m going for Mark Reid, every thing he paints is good, he can do anything…. Scary, beautiful, OTJ, bodypaint just everything is always spot on.

Who do you usually order all of your face painting supplies from?And why? I don’t order at 1 place… I have different webshop were I order. But I love Facepaintshop.eu, Schminkengrime.nl, crearose.nl, schminkhuis.nl and Diva Stencils.

Which design do you absolutely hate painting whenever a kid asks for it? What I hate to paint… something with eyes!! Like unicorns, horses, minions, pokemon ggrrrr… but I do them if the kids ask them..but I really hate them.

If you were stuck on island and can only take 1 stencil, 1 brush, 1 color, and 1 cake, which ones would it be? Stuck on an island… I will take my Superstar Ziva with Mehron blue glitter, Sillyfarm cake Dragon Pixi, Loew Cornell nr2 or flat floral…..(hard choice, I think I will hide one in my hair) and stencil, Graffiti eyes, and then the one with the dots.

Besides Face Painting, name some of your other hobbies you like to do. I really love freehand glitter tattoo’s and I make acryl paintings on wood.

If Barack Obama hired you to paint at his daughter’s birthday party and said you had to bring 3 other painters to work with you… who would you take with you? (You can choose anyone in the face painting industry) Who I’m going to bring to Barack Obama, I think Marcela Murad, I so love her work and her personality and I know she will be in heaven when she’s going to meet Barack. I will bring Tinkering Menalda, she always asked me for great jobs too, and I know we will rock that party. And last… My sweet friend Jade Gaal van der Vreede, I need someone if there is a boy that what’s scary stuff, lol. I think we’re going to have a blast on that party!!

When did you know you wanted to become a face painter? And how many years have you been painting for? I started painting 4 years ago but not actively, I never practice or paint a lot. Since April 2016 I painted every day. Since to October 2016 I try to make a real business.

Are you a face painter full time? Or do you have another job? I’m a painter ‘full’ time… I don’t have another job but I don’t work every day as a painter. I’ve lost my job October 2015 and since then I’m just painting.

Who from your family (or friends) has been the biggest supporter of your face painting career? My husband John, he sometimes is complaining about the glitter but he’s always supportive, willing model and gives me the opportunity to go to jobs. He’s helping me with my administration of my business and sometimes my line-manager or roady. And my son Lars, sometimes he’s a real boy, trying to be cool… don’t sweet things, but if you ask him who’s the best painter he always say I’m the best painter of the whole world. Lol

Do you think you will try to paint for another 365 days ever again? My goal was the first year, after that I had in my mind to paint when I feel like it, and don’t pressure myself, but it’s s natural to paint every day. I can’t stop. I think I’m addicted to paint…so Maybe I’ll do another year ……

If you were trying to recruit artist to join the Inspiration to Paint group… what would you say to them? Just try…. It’s just the best family there is!