Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathy Barnwell
Hi Kathy , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi! My name is Kathy Barnwell and Im a professional facepainter.
I started facepainting in the fall of 2019. However, I have been always inclined to art since a very young age. As a little girl, I used to color and paint in different surfaces and types of papers. Colors are fascinating to me!
Tracing back to where and how I started my facepainting journey… here’s my story: It was a friend of mine who sent me to a birthday party to do facepainting because she couldnt cover that party, that was my debut as facepainter, and that day I fell in love with the art of painting children’s and adults’ faces. Soon after that,I began to research for facepainting training in my community, luckily for me, there was a facepainting course open in a community college nearby. I enrolled in the classes and began to know more about the products I could use.
A lot has changed since my humble beginnings, as I have more knowledge and experince in the field, but one thing has not changed and it is my love and dedication to give the very best whenever I get invited to a party or event.
Facepainting makes my heart full because I can make other people smile and I can also be a positive role model for the children I interact with.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Facepainting has not been a smooth ride because facepainting products are expensive which means that at the begging of my journey I had to invest more money in products than what I was making in order to keep my facepainting case filled with high quality products.
Another struggle is the slow seasons during the year, these are the months of the year that due to weather conditions, customers dont hire facepainters as much. Nonetheless, difficult seasons makes us enjoy the good ones so Im grateful for when theres bounty of work even if it means working 12+hrs a day in some cases.
Also, since most of the events are on the weekends, I have missed a lot of personal family reunions and celebrations but with all honesty I wouldn’t have it another way! I sure make up the time with my family as they fully support my business.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Besides being a facepainter, Im a Preschool teacher, I have been teaching for 11yrs.
I believe my experience in education definitely merges with my skills as a creative artist because because both paths include having patience when working with children who are the most sincere critics of all!
I am know for my bold colorful style, I love making big strokes and designs that include lots of colors that all blend together to make an explosion of details that make a one-of-a-kind design.
Two years ago, my husband started to record videos of my facepainting designs, I uploaded them on Tiktok not knowing that one of my videos would make it viral overnight. Now, my Tiktok page has almost 125k followers… and growing!
Im so thankful with the community we are building on that platform. You can find me on Tiktok as @joyglowfacepainting.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I thank the Lord God for giving me this blessing of being an artist, every good gift comes from Him. I am left handed and thank my parents who never forced me to change that as a little girl (I grew up in the 80s).
My husband is also a big supporter, there are a lot of sacrifices that one needs to make when working so much but he is always there for me to help me out.
It is difficult to mention just one mentor because I have met a lot of different fellow facepainters who are so very experienced and have taught me how to be a more seasoned facepainter. To each and all of you: Thank you! I love you and value you all!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joyglowfacepainting/profilecard/?igsh=OTZlanJ4MGNsYTlj
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joyglowfacepainting?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@joyglowfacepainting?_t=8qIyqDv6XWg&_r=1
