KIM FLETCHER whisked cool streaks of paint across two patient canvases, siblings Hannah and Tommy Van Savage who stopped at the Fletcher Face Art booth at the Topsham Fair for a pair of face paint mustaches.

“Every person’s face is different, in terms of the planes of their face,” said Fletcher, who has been painting faces at fairs for more than six years with her husband, Geary Smith, an airbrush tattoo artist. The couple stop at nearly every fair in Maine, Fletcher said, though this is their first season at the Topsham Fair.

“We are just thrilled,” said Fletcher, adding, “and we got a spot right next to the queen of the fair — the lady in the information booth,” near the main entrance.

“Every makeup artist is different — we hold our brushes different ways and have different strokes,” she said, which is why face painters never copyright their designs, which are on display at the front of the booth.

Their motto is, “If we can see it, we can paint it,” said Fletcher, and it’s a motto that is constantly pushing the boundaries of their technique and expanding their portfolio of faces with customer’s special requests.

“I get a charge out of it,” said Fletcher. “Geary and I sometimes have 20 or 30 children waiting to be painted and the goal is take anywhere between 3 and 5 minutes a child.

“Face painting isn’t a profession for plodders,” she said. “If you have a time when you need to paint really slowly, it isn’t going to work — you have to run in there and dash away.”

Sometimes a face painter finds themselves working with a canvas that is a little squirmy, said Fletcher, and the paintbrush can be a little ticklish, “but amazingly, the parents and the kids are always happy with the results.

“And they’re just hypnotized by themselves — they have no idea what exactly is going to happen,” she said. “When they look in the mirror afterward, they’re all smiles.”

With an MFA in Theater, Fletcher worked in that field for more than 30 years before working as a beat reporter and later associate editor of The Lincoln County News for 10 years.

Face painting “was kind of an easy leap when I started having kids,” said Fletcher, who was also the makeup artist for some stage performances, videos, and the film Nor’easter, shot in Vinalhaven.

“I got real popular at Halloween,” she said, noting that Fletcher Face Art is also available for parties and events.

Priced “for Maine families,” Fletcher said designs start at $5. Fletcher Face Art will be open starting at 10 a.m. each day through to the last day of the fair. For more information, visit their website at www.fletcherfaceart.com. THE 160TH annual Topsham Fair runs daily through Sunday. The Times Record will focus on Faces at the Fair throughout this week. For a schedule of events, visit www.topshamfair.net.