Mayan Jaguar Warrior

The theme for the Body Painting Competition at Bodyssey in Toronto this year (April 2009) was "Mystery". I decided to translate that as the Mystery of the Ancient Maya, and came up with this Jaguar Warrior painting. We were given 4 and a 1/2 hours to paint, actually, the doors opened to the room at 4 1/2 hours before the end time, so our set up was included in that time period! That is NOT a lot of time to paint an entire body! But this short period did one thing for me.... I have never been more organized for a painting! I set up split cakes to deal with some of my shading and striated areas, and tried very very hard to stick to my time break downs.

My model was Jennifer Malo, a good friend of mine, who is also a painter, and she was very helpful in reminding me to paint faster! My paint area was positioned right next to Lucie Broulliard, who has won many many awards at the World Body Painting Competition, so it was pretty intimidating... I kept thinking, I have to paint faster, and I have to paint better!

There were a few things that I didn't get done on this painting: I wanted to do a little more to the gold accessories, make it more molten and more 3-D, I didn't get the shadows done that I wanted, and there was a detail that I had to leave out. But, I was super happy with the jade breast plates, the turquoise/jade necklace and belt, and the jaguar pelt!

The best part of this painting is that it garnered me 10th place in a competition full of Big Guns in the body paint world!

Jamming with Mark Reid

For those of you not familiar with the who's who of Face and Body Painting, Mark Reid is one of the best. He's won or placed very highly in the World Body Painting Competition each time he's attended, and he's a sought after instructor at all of the conventions. He's also a great guy and a good friend of mine. He was in Columbus early this year for a class and we got together with a few other painters and had a "jam". I was thrilled with my body painting that day, and even happier when I saw this picture that he sent me of our two models together.

Mine has the red orchids and Mark's has the purple irises. Can you tell where the two women meet?

Art Gone Wild....

.....was the theme for the 2009 Face and Body Art International Convention, and therefore the Body Painting competition followed. I was unsure of what I was going to paint until the morning of, but with the help of my assistant Cindy Farslow, I was able to pull off this Keith Haring inspired painting.

The "Harings" are escaping from their painting into the world, they are "Art Gone Wild".

The World Body Painting Competition 2009 -My Second

Boy oh Boy! Was this year different! Remy and I had quite a trip.

Remy had been studying abroad in Prague (fiction writing) for 5 weeks, so he met me in Venice when that was done, to join me on a cruise where I was hired to be the onboard face painter. We had a marvelous time being together while cruising the Adriatic and Aegean. This is me in Dubrovnik Croatia, and Remy in Santorini Greece.

After the cruise we lugged our stuff through Northern Italy, staying a few days in Padua and Verona, and then into Austria. We were so excited to see all of our friends whom we'd met the year before!

But, this is when it got tense. I had decided to mail a package to Clarissa who was modeling for us again this year, and after hours and hours of dealing with Austrian import department, and paying them an exorbitant fee for my own belongings, I finally got my paints and headdress stuff the day before our competition! I want to thank Mehron and Wolfe FX for helping me out in my time of need!

On the day of the Semi-Pro competition, it was very cold and raining, and the festival grounds had lost power, so it was near impossible for many of the competitors to work, because the airbrush and special effects entrants needed power, and because that is cruel punishment for naked models! There was a lot of discussion going on about what to do, and our start time was delayed several times. In the end, the artist sharing a tent with me found a kerosene heater which helped us and our models immensely.

I had written out a big sheet of paper with a break down of what elements of the painting we were going to do in each half hour block of our 6 hour time frame..... when we got to the fifth hour, we found out that they had cut our time by an hour! We had never heard! Our neighbors knew because it had been announced in German, but not in English. Oh! How upsetting! We decided to plug on through, and finish our design and take our punches as they came for going over the alotted time.

The theme this year was poetry, and we settled on using Beatles Lyrics as our inspiration. Once again Clarissa really came through for us. Once she got back the use of her limbs (after standing still in the cold and wet for 6 hours she was a little stiff!) she was wonderful in the photography area, doing some wonderful movement and yoga poses to show off our painting. There was so much wonderful art this year, definitely steeper competition for us, and we placed as number 11 this year, much to our satisfaction.

The World Body Painting Competition -My First

Every July, the little town of Seeboden, which is nestled against a lake in the Austrian Alps, is descended upon by thousands of body painters and appreciative gawkers for the World Body Painting Festival. In 2008, I decided to go. I had never painted a body before, only some limited exposure to face painting and theatrical makeup, but because of my henna business, and my art background, I was not unaccustomed to paint, or to working with the human body.


I entered into the Semi-Pro category, with my son, Remy, as my assistant. We met our model when we arrived the morning we were to paint, the lovely Clarissa, who is a student at Klagenfurt University, a nearby town to Seeboden. The theme was "Science: a World of Wonders", so we decided to paint the power of the earth, and did a Volcano/Tsunami scene, and transformed our model into Pele, the Hawaiian Volcano Goddess.

We were so excited with our painting, and with the wonderful feedback we got from everyone watching. Clarissa was so exuberant, and into her character of Pele, her energy was terrific! We ended up in 13th place, and with a marvelous experience. One that got me hooked on Body Painting!

Spring has Sprung, Fall has Tripped

Its fall. I really felt it yesterday, it was colder and it was windier. Very windy. And today I'm thinking about how that wind is stripping the trees of their leaves, which were starting to have only a tentative hold on their branches. And that's sad for a few reasons, because I'll have more of them tracked into my house, but mainly because it means that stark, cold winter is close behind. You'd think that trees would need their leaves more in the winter, like a fur coat, they always look so cold and naked without them.

Now logically I know that each season starts on the 21st of its respective month, just like the signs of the zodiac end on the 20th and start on the 21st (I know, I KNOW, some years the alignments are different by enough minutes to make it the 22nd, but in general its the 21st), and just like the Zodiac signs, the seasons have a period of a cusp (my Dad is a cusper Taurus/Gemini), and every year I just pray that each cusp is long and comfortable.

In theory, I like every season, but in reality some truly shine above others. As fall is now upon me, I have fond memories of back to school, and kicking leaves, and snuggling into comfy sweaters and boots (I love boots), and the aromas of fall comfort food, but the absolute best thing about autumn is Halloween. I love everything about Halloween, the magic of the unknown, the mysteries of the ancients, the modern opportunity to escape your self and don another personna for one night of revelry and tequila shots. A night when its ok to be "bad". And, of course, Candy Corn and Smarties.

When the clocks turn back and the days are short and dark and cold, that is the day that the earth dies its winter death, and I pull my afghan over my head. The heaviness of a grey winter sky, the days of shoveling and shivering and depression are upon me. The first snow of giant, silent, white flakes, the happiness of Christmas and New Years and other reasons to drink Champagne may bring me around for a brief shining day or two, but its not enough to erase the memories of scraping an inch of ice off of a car while standing in a 2 foot snow drift at midnight. If it weren't for Hot Chocolate with whipped cream and my husband, who willingly sacrifices his body to warm my ice cold feet, I'd never make it.

Spring seems so fleeting that it hardly seems to count. This is one cusp that is never in my favor. Winter seems to hold on for dear life. Spring is supposed to begin on March 21st, but anyone who has a birthday in March, or even in April, or has spent a "Spring" Break at home, knows that that is seldom the case. There is always mud, thats for sure, and there is always rain. And often, just when the magnolia trees are really in bloom, if they escaped a last minute freeze that would have turned the flowers brown, then a heavy downpour with mighty winds will strip the blossoms off again, and lay the tree bare once more, dashing hopes of a fairytale spring.

But surely enough, when I've just given up, its here, and before I know it I don't have to wear socks, or jackets, or a fist full of tissues (except to the movie theaters). And I revel in that freedom, of having windows open, and bare legs, and sundresses. I already miss it.

Now Taking Halloween Appointments!

Our face paint is the way to a unique, exciting, and above all SAFE Halloween night. Bring your child or yourself to have your face painted before your Beggar's Night or your Halloween party and.....

Be transformed into a Devilish-Demon.....

Or a Creepy Monster......

Or a Deathly Skull-Mask.....

Or your favorite SuperHero.....

Or the Sweetest, Prettiest Kitty Princess.....

Whatever Your Dark Side Desires

Desdemona's Designs is taking individual appointments at our location on the East side of Columbus for Full-Face character Face Paintings for all of Your Halloween Party and Beggar's Night needs. Face Paintings start at $20.

Email Deborah Brommer for more information and to set up your appointment. Desdemona@ddhenna.com