Change of face
A face-painter extraordinaire who creates works of art on human canvasses
ALTHOUGH Hellen Stevens has only been face-painting seriously (if one can use such a term) for two years, she has already won a number of awards, starting with the UK Best Newcomer in 2003. Since then she has been placed in several international competitions. On holiday in her house in Cyprus recently, she took time out to give two face-painting demonstrations, raising funds and awareness of Brownies and Guides in Cyprus.
“I came to face-painting from an art and crafts background,” she explained. “Now I paint regularly for major UK companies including Waterstones booksellers, the NSPCC and Asda. I particularly enjoy painting at Paradise Park wildlife park because there the children want the animal faces that they’re seeing – and I love doing lions, tigers and cheetahs.”
Hellen has an easy way with children, urging them to use their imagination. She never works from pictures – “painting by numbers” – preferring to probe and perhaps suggest an image to suit the child. Her repertoire is vast and she passes easily from fairy princess prettiness to Halloween scenes. Scary faces were not the choice of boys alone; young Zoe Apeitos, a Paphos Brownie, requested a classic vampire, which came complete with ashen face, gory teeth and droplets of ‘blood’ from a neck wound.
But what skills do you need to become a champion face painter? “Each face demonstrates different talents. To join FACE (the international professional face painters’ association) I had to complete an audition; painting three faces of the judging panel’s choice within a strict time limit to very stringent standards. The faces chosen for me were a tiger – to display brushstrokes and symmetry; a dalmation – quickly achieving a perfectly even white face to start; and finally a scene – to show my creativity.”
Working with nine-year-old Alex Pavlou, Hellen swiftly replicated that audition scene: a colourful sunset over water, with dolphins leaping (left cheek), seagulls flying across the setting sun (left eyebrow) and silhouetted palm trees (right cheek). All finished off with gold lip colour and glitter! Amazingly, this took no longer than 10 minutes, even with breaks to talk to a TV reporter.
One of the most difficult faces Hellen has painted was her own: “I created a blue tiger image, which was really complex: you don’t have the same feel for symmetry when painting yourself.” That creation won her a prize. Another recent high spot was the privilege of working with the Wolfe brothers, the gurus of the face-painting world at Universal Studios.
It is not all about painting faces though, Hellen also holds down a ‘proper job’; she is a construction projects manager. “Oh, I still climb into my dead posh power suits, or don my hard-hat and steel-capped boots. But one day I will concentrate on face painting alone, perhaps here in Cyprus. Who knows? I certainly had a wonderful time here.”
l For more information visit www.dreamfaces.co.uk
SEVEN QUESTIONS
What car do you drive?
A Peugeot 306 Estate; roomy enough to carry painting gear
Describe your perfect weekend
Painting – children’s faces, not architraves and shutters. Preferably at Paradise Park wildlife park, where I get to paint lots of big cat faces
Assuming you believed in reincarnation, who or what would you come back as?
A smaller cat – the meer cat. I’d be sure I wasn’t missing out on anything and I’d always have someone looking after my back
What is your greatest fear?
Forgetting something essential like white base paint or brushes. I always check everything at least three times
What is your earliest memory?
Aged four, when my mother was urging me to eat up a plateful of stew (I was a picky eater). She said ‘Think of all those poor starving children’ and I pushed my plate away and said ‘Send it!’
What did you have for breakfast?
Buttered toast and tea
What was the last item of clothing you bought?
This lovely skirt from Next – just great for the Cyprus climate
