Dionne's a body painter

Jan 25 2013 by Lorraine Howard, Irvine Herald

The art of body painting for visual pleasure can be traced back to the 16th century when Pope Leo X ordered for a young Florentine boy to be daubed from head to toe in gold paint.

The boy passed away from what historians suspect was lead poisoning.

Fortunately times have changed and lead based paint is no longer used for body art.

Anyone who has the skill of being able to use the body as a canvas and create magic is someone who deserves all the praise they can get.

Take Irvine artist Dionne Doyle-Strachan, owner of Irvine based company Tini Designs, who specialises in face and body paint for all ages. From a young age Dionne has had the love of art. “I was always drawing at school and at home” says Dionne “I used to draw characters and create profiles for them, I remember one called scooter who had a big quiff.”

Dionne studied Industrial Design and Interior Design at college but eventually decided she would be better suited to learning her craft from a hands-on approach.

Dionne mainly specialises in body painting and face painting and has accumulated a good client base around Ayrshire and Glasgow.

Her skills have landed her jobs with KA Leisure, Maggie Mays, The Arches and local primary schools including St Mark’s Primary in Irvine.

And it was her daughter who inspired her.

“When she was a toddler she always wanted her face painted and I used to copy the images off of a children’s face painting pack, then other children wanted their face painted and it spirraled from there.”

Over the years Tini Designs slowly started building a strong base of loyal customers who would require face painting at children’s parties and fun days and so word quickly started getting around. From then on she would be approached for various projects including art work for musicians and their upcoming albums, her notable works include Charlie Heaney and Jiezuberband to name a few.

Gradually word reached Glasgow and she was approached by What’s the Noise Promotions to attend various club nights and music events where she would experience a different sort of clientele – adults.

Tini Designs has covered most styles of art - , along with face and body painting the company has also catered for gestation painting, wall murals, tattoo designs, illustrative work and window art. All of this from someone who mastered the craft at home with a lot of passion and dedication.

And she loves her job. “Seeing the expression on a child’s face when you’ve painted them as Spider-Man, that’s my pay off.

“I urge anyone who wants to do something they have a passion for to get out there and do it.

“It has taken me time to build up a reputation and I sometimes wish I had done it years ago but I enjoy every piece of work that I undertake as you never know what people will ask for .”

Find Tini Designs on Facebook at www.facebook.com/tinidesigns.