Madison Ink
Posted on February 28, 2008
Yesterday, business was slow for 51-year-old Mark Powell. He sat behind a purple table covered with dozens of stencils in Transitions yesterday, ready and waiting to create temporary airbrush tattoos. At 1 p.m. Powell had only had one visitor.
“Usually people are lining up for this,” he said.
Powell has been working with JMU for nine years doing airbrush designs during student events and football games, offering hundreds of freehand and custom designs, full body art, makeup and special effects.
He has been a professional airbursh artist for 25 years. In the past 10 years Powell said he has painted at least 1,500 faces.
He became a graphic designer after studying art at Eastern Mennonite University. He said he has airbrushed just about everything imaginable, from clothes to helmets, and even cars. He moved into airbrush tattooing in 1985.
“One day someone asked ‘do you paint people?’ and I said, ‘I paint portraits,’ they said, ‘no, do you paint on people?’” Powell said with a laugh, adding that he started doing research on full-body painting after that.
Powell began his airbrush tattoo business, called Air Illusions, 23 years ago, offering hundreds of freehand and custom designs, full body art, make-up and special effects. Six years ago he opened Suncatcher Airbrush Tanning, where he does airbrush tanning and tattooing.
Air Illusions was hired for the 2008 Homecoming football game. Hours before kickoff for the 2007 Homecoming game students lined up outside Bridgeforth Stadium to get their faces, hair and bodies covered in purple and gold designs.
He said some of his most popular designs are Duke Dog paw prints, JMU letters, stars, dolphins, hearts, butterflies and Mardi Gras designs. He’s worked with UPB, Student Duke Club, sororities, cheerleaders and the women’s swim team. He also does airbrushing for major football games such as Homecoming and Family Weekend, employee appreciation days and Student Organization Night.
“I like the interaction with the students,” Powell said. “Everybody’s a kid at heart and people really like it; people will wait hours in line.”
Powell usually has 10 airbrushes with different colors hooked up at once. He said he averages painting approximately 110 people in an hour.”
Safety is a big concern for Powell. The airbrush solution he uses on people’s faces is approved by the Food And Drug Administration.
“My goal is to put the health of students “My goal is to put the health of students first, to provide a healthy alternative to tanning beds and introduce them to the alternative at a young age,” Powell said, adding that he does a lot of research on the products he uses.
In 2002, Powell expanded his airbrushing business and opened Suncatcher in downtown Harrisonburg. Powell personally airbrushes the tan onto each client. He creates custom blends to help the tan appear more natural. Each client has two coats of the solution applied and the process takes about ten minutes, plus drying time.
“It’s really an art form to know how to make it blend,” Powell said.
Sophomore Mamie Sifen recently visited Suncatcher and got an airbrush tattoo on her wrist. It took less than a minute for Powell to do her design: three shimmering stars in a blend of dark purple and blue.
“It’s just fun to get for a few days, and I won’t regret it in a year like a real tattoo,” she said.
Like his face solutions, Powell says that his airbrush tanning solution is also FDA approved and composed of all natural ingredients.
