Meet Stephen Sinek and Aeni Domme of The Painted Warrior in North and Central Phoenix Mountains

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Sinek and Aeni Domme.

Stephen and Aeni, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Stephen: It may have taken me over 30 years to understand it, but I’ve discovered my purpose in life, and that is simply “to create”. That is what brings me the most joy. In nearly every extension of my life, I have always found a way to express this. As a young boy, I drew creatures in fantasy worlds. Later on, I learned an instrument and began writing and playing original music in a band for several years. As an adult, I have found a successful career in graphic design and am embarking on an extensive and ongoing house remodel with my own two hands. In more recent years, this passion for creating has expanded to working more on my physical self. As I discovered what my body was capable of achieving in an athletic capacity. Fitness became a new medium for which to create and in turn, came a need to recruit my other artistic resources. This is where my wife stepped into the mix and something unique was born. Being a makeup artist by profession and a great artist in her own right, Aeni brought her talents in the form of body art, specifically body paint, applied with an airbrush. As I entered the new and unfamiliar world of obstacle racing, I didn’t know it at the time, but I had arrived as the yet-to-be-named “Painted Warrior”. The first finish line sparked a fire within and just as one burning branch ignites the rest of the pile, one race turned into many races. The one-off idea of a paint-clad tribal warrior running through the mud had quickly evolved into an every-race ritual, and ultimately identity.

Has it been a smooth road?
Over the next many years, our bond as husband and wife, painter and canvas grew with each successive painting, though it was not without struggle and compromise. During these rituals paintings, we occupy the same small bubble of space for an average of five to seven hours. Such close quarters help you to intimately know the person you are working with. Not only is the paint application itself an exhaustingly long, painful process, but the journey of designing and planning the artwork has often been contentious between two creatives. We are each eager and capable of designing body art, so there has been a fair share of push and pull in the past. Though, as we’ve matured in this project, we have far less conflict and much more trust in each others’ expression. Or maybe it’s just me that needed to learn to let her spread her wings. I’ve become far more content to just be the canvas. Either way, it has been a way for us to connect on a very deep level and I’m so thrilled that we’ve been able to share this for so long.

Please tell us about your art.
In my day-to-day life, I am a graphic designer for my company, Seven Sin Design. I primarily specialize in logos and vehicle graphics. Aeni is a makeup artist for film and television with a talent for FX makeup and wig building. We are each self-employed and have our separate artistic passions, but with The Painted Warrior, we have found a unique way to collaborate. For the past few years, we’ve been working with film director Mark Wilson on a feature length documentary about this joint collaboration. It follows our journey from the early days of the project and my first competition as an introverted, late blooming athlete in my 30’s to a much more seasoned, confident competitor, enduring a barrage of physical challenges, extreme endurance events along the way, in full body-art regalia. Perhaps most importantly the documentary reveals the nature of being able to navigate those things that bring you joy with the one you love. The film, The Painted Warrior, was released in April of 2019 and has been received far better than I ever imagined.

What are you striving for, what criteria or markers have you set as indicators of success?
I define success, not by wealth, but by one’s happiness. An emotionally stress free environment and lifestyle is also a big marker of success for me. Fortunately, many years ago I was able to nurture one of my talents of graphic design and make a living out of it. Working for myself from the comfort of my home allows me the ability to structure my day around all of my various interests in an environment that I choose. My life is a juggling act of things I love to do: Designing, Home Remodeling, Training, and Competing. A lot of times, I want to do one of these things much more than the others, so the challenge for me is having the discipline to do what needs to be done at the time.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thepaintedwarrior.com
• Email: info@thepaintedwarrior.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/stephensinek
• Facebook: facebook.com/thepaintedwarrior
• Other: aenidomme.com

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