FACE Community

I’m Hannah Ainsworth, FACE Member 618 and the newly appointed FACE Membership Secretary.  We at FACE are starting a blog series so that members can share their experiences of being part of the association and highlighting what we love about FACE. There are many benefits of being part of FACE but I wanted to focus on community.

I joined FACE in 2023 and have really enjoyed being part of this association since joining.  It took me a while to join.  I don’t know why I took so long, as I have been face painting for nearly thirteen years.  I was feeling a bit isolated as a face painter although being a member of a few Facebook face painting groups.  I have a couple of close friends that I have met through these groups and they suggested I join FACE.  Since joining I have really been made welcome and there is such a fabulous sense of community.

I attended a FACE Jam organised the Central & Anglia Area Rep, Glyn Goodwin in 2019.  I met some really lovely ladies, joined in a competition and even demonstrated my ‘Joker’ face painting design.  There were four other face painting demonstrations and I picked up so many tips that day and was in awe of these talented painters who were so generous in sharing their skills as well as being so friendly.

Glyn suggested I come along to the FACE convention in 2020, she said that I didn’t have to be a member to attend but it would give me a chance to meet other face painters and see what the association was all about.  The convention was so much fun, I met many other face painters who were so friendly and welcoming. There were also vendors selling some lovely stuff from face paints, stencils, glitter & glitter tattoos, Amanda Careford and her amazing bling, and even holistic candles, bath bombs and other craft gifts.  The weekend was jam packed with competitions and demonstrations.  We had a fancy-dress gala evening on Saturday. I won third place in the ‘20 Minute Face Painting’ competition and was absolutely delighted.  I came home on an absolute high with full intentions of joining FACE and then Covid hit.  The funny thing was that one of the costumes and winner of the fancy-dress at the gala evening was Fran Heaver who dressed up as the Covid virus!  Such a fabulous and clever costume lol!

I arranged my FACE assessment at the Herne Bay FACE South East Seaside Jam 2022.  Again, this was a fabulous day arranged by Gillian Child, the South East Area Rep.  I did my assessment at the end of the day with Beshlie-Ann Carver-Carpenter who was the FACE Chair at the time.  She put me totally at ease although I was pretty nervous (the great thing now is that FACE assessments are online!).  I passed my assessment and finally became a member.

Along came the FACE Conference in 2023.  As I knew what to expect this time, the build up to this event was so exciting.  I made an amazing costume for the gala evening – the theme was ‘Autumn Equinox’ and I went as an elfish autumnal witch.  I entered the Showcase Competition (this is where you had to send in a full face design, via email or post, before the conference.  All the entries are printed off in three views – front and either side of the face.  These are displayed on a large display board in the reception/gathering area at the conference.  There is no mention of who the artists are on the photos.  FACE Members secretly voted during the Saturday and the winner is announced at the gala evening.).  My entry was called ‘Autumnal Mouse from Day to Night’ and I painted it on my son’s girlfriend who was a fabulous model.  The conference was amazing fun once again.  I met more face painters and the whole weekend was jam packed with competitions and demos (I think I entered every competition!). There was even a balloon twisting area and demonstration.  Again, I learnt so much for the pending Halloween season of face painting.  Liz Bylett (our current FACE Chair) did an amazing body paint during the day, on the Saturday, which was so interesting to watch and I was in awe of her amazing talent. I shared a hotel room with a lady I had never met before, Natalie Catchpole, who was a seasoned member of FACE and boy did we hit it off!  We helped each other get ready for the gala evening while sharing a cheeky bottle of wine! The gala evening was great, we had a lovely meal and then it was the prize giving.  I was absolutely delighted to win the Show Case Competition and a voucher from Magic Box Face Paints.  I sat back down and the big announcement was the Face Painter of the Year award and to my absolute surprise and amazement I only won it! I was absolutely gob smacked and started weeping with joy (a bit dramatic I know!).  I received the trophy (this is a glass sculpture of the FACE eye logo) which proudly sits on my mantelpiece at home and a year’s subscription to the FACE liability insurance sponsored by Rees Astley! I felt like a celebrity for the remainder of the evening, so many warm wishes and hugs from everyone.  We had a fantastic disco and there was a really fun rotating photo booth. It was an amazing evening, everyone looked so brilliant in their costumes and we certainly put on a spectacular show for other hotel guests when we got drinks at the bar!  Sunday was another jam packed day, even though I was nursing a bit of a fragile head, it was so much fun.  I didn’t want the weekend to end!

The next event I attended was the FACE jam organised by Glyn Goodwin in April 2024 in Datchworth, Hertfordshire. Both Rasiha Kavaklidere and I helped Glyn advertise the event, invite local Hertfordshire face painters and assisted her on the day. It was a tremendous success with many vendors attending, demonstrations from Amanda Careford, Elizabeth Gale, Ranaja Patel (with her amazing henna), Hannah Clark, Juliette Eve and myself! We had a children’s face painting area and held a competition for them.  There was a delicious bring and share buffet lunch too. Me and my mum (who is also my glitter tattoo artist) sold raffle tickets. Once again it was such a great day meeting up with my face painting family and we all had a blast!

I attended UKFABA Convention in Coventry in October 2024 and we had a FACE room which was fabulous to pop in and catch up with friends. Liz Bylett, Lisa Taylor-Costin & Tracy Osborn who are FACE committee members offered hat and headdress making most of the weekend in the FACE room which was a great success!

Beshlie-Ann Carver-Carpenter recently organised the Hastings Jam in November 2024 which unfortunately I missed (due to face painting) which was another success and fun day enjoyed by all who attended. There have also been other FACE jams around the UK this year which I was unable attend 😢

I’m looking forward to 2025, Linda Smith is arranging a FACE Jam in Scotland in January and there will be the Lincolnshire Face Painting & Balloon Jam at the Boston United Community Club on Sunday, 16th March from 10am being organised by Simone Martin – Facebook Event

I can honestly say that before and since joining FACE I have enjoyed myself so much. It is so special to belong to this association and meet up with, have fun and learn from such generous, kind and like-minded artists as myself. I feel that I have found my tribe! FACE is such a wonderful association not only to raise and maintain high standards of the face painting industry, so that we can be acknowledged as professional artists and entertainers, but the sense of community is amazing. It really is worth joining FACE, there are so many perks and resources available to members.

We will continue with future blogs in this series so keep an eye out. If you are not a member of FACE and are interested in joining you can contact me by email or visit our become a member page for more information!

May I take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

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