I recently read that body and face painting might have been the first form of art used by humans dating back to the prehistoric times, and apparently archaeological data is there to support it. How cool is that? They would use it for rituals, or when going into battle or for a hunt. The discovery of pigments in an early Middle Stone Age deposit in Zambia dates back as early as 400,000 years ago, according to Lawrence Barham of the University of Bristol. Throughout history body painting was used extensively by tribal cultures across most continents as a means of self expression. They would use natural dyes from fruits and plants, clays and charcoal to decorate and distinguish themselves.
One of these was Henna, used by Sikhs, Hindus and some Middle Eastern cultures. I would often come across it while growing up, a fashionable trend for wedding parties, its been part of the culture for centuries. The henna plant is ground into a paste and mixed with oils to get hues. The designs you can make are something quite remarkable and the imprints can last on your hands for a couple of weeks.
In more recent times body and face painting appeared to have been discarded, no longer fashionable. Relegated to the realm of clowns and bank robbers. Or a symbol of some sort of unwanted paganism. I tried to find out how it all came back into vogue. Apparently a famous cosmetic artist created a full monty body paint in the 1930s, which created such a stir that the model was arrested four times in one day. Talk about double jeopardy.
Till probably the party culture brought it all back. Be it a hippie party from the 1970s, Halloween, a NRL game or a kids birthday party at present face painting has made quite a comeback. So its probably a good enough time as any to be a face painter.