The passion that comes from the creative process manifests itself so differently in different projects.  Some projects I'm passionate and excited about from the get-go.  Sometimes I'm sort of "meh" about a project until it's completely over with and I find magic in the pictures.   Usually it's somewhere in between.

This week I met with a model and photographer, neither of whom I've worked with before.  All three of us have slightly different ideas and slightly different goals, which is what makes this kind of collaboration interesting.  

Collaboration at its best is finding that spark of passion-that-ignites-art - in a model's eyes, a camera's lens, an accidental look or pose or streak of sunlight.  It's almost like falling in love, in a way.. working from different places, to find that common connection to the mystery and magic behind the paint.. working to bring out the truth in the model in such a way that the camera can capture it.  It's a challenge, but a delicious one.

I'm excited about the projects we're dreaming up.  Breeana, our model, has Cherokee blood and so we all connected with the idea of doing a native American themed piece.  There will be turquoise jewelry and eagle feathers and war paint.  I'm quite excited.. I find myself spotting detail ideas almost everywhere I look.

We are also talking about doing a motorcycle shoot.  I want to do some product shots for my portfolio since I'm interested in doing magazine print work, and I've always wanted to paint a sexy motorcycle shot.. and Breeana is definitely into motorcycles so I hope we can make it work!

It makes me happy just to daydream about it all.  The first few bites of a creative project are sometimes the tastiest.

I'm up in Tahoe with some friends - we took a few days off and are spending them at the cabin, creating art. I'm here with a musician, a mad scientist (I kid you not, he is in the basement creating lightning - resulting pics here), and a beautiful red-haired model, Melissa.

I was planning on doing a snowy tree body painting and shooting photos outside by the lake, but.. it's been raining lately and the snow is wet, heavy, and messy.. and Melissa has bright red hair and gorgeous curves.. not quite right for a winter tree. Besides, I was trying to plan out the artwork and the ideas just weren't flowing. I couldn't quite "see" the finished project in my head and so I wasn't feeling really inspired.

This morning, watching our resident mad scientist scampering around, running high voltage wires throughout the house and hearing him cackle, my thoughts took another turn. The ozone in the air combined with Melissa's flaming red hair made me want to paint her like lighting, like smoke, like fire.. so that is what came out of my brush this morning.

There are so many factors to creativity. Sometimes, mistakes turn out to be the best part of a design. Sometimes lack of inspiration makes me push harder to create and sometimes it causes me to back off, or take another path. I think lately, the key is learning to relax and just let my brush paint what it wants to paint rather than over-planning or over-controlling each project.

And.. I love what resulted.. here are my two favorite pics. More up at Picasa!

     

Another  fun painting I did at the convention.. there were so many fabulous balloon creations there, and Kara had been tapped to wear the Cinderella dress (which was just amazing!).  The balloons comprised just the skirt of the dress and she needed someone to paint her bodice..

I know a little something about Cinderella (check me out over at Fire Pixie Parties) and so was delighted to get to help out and get her painted.  

She had a great time being a princess (and we had a great time taking silly photos together).  

Kara's got a new web site up - check her out!

I'm going up to Tahoe next week and I want to paint a winter tree.. I've done a spring tree and a summer tree painting, and last time I was in tahoe the beauty of the snow inspired me to keep working on the series. Now I just need to find a model.. and figure out how to keep her from freezing out in the snow!!

One of the highlights of the FPBA convention for me was that I had a fire eating student fly down from New Jersey to Orlando to take a fire eating intensive class while I was on the East Coast.  I do a lot of fire performance when I'm not body painting (fire.firepixie.com) and it was a lot of fun to be able to combine the two passions for an evening.

Here I am eating fire with a pirate ship on my cheek - much fun!  The best part was that we were doing the class out by the pool, and crazy characters in full-body paint kept on popping out to see what we were doing!  Delightful.  :)  Thanks to Mark Reid for the photo!

At the body painting convention last week I got painted by Brian Wolfe (eviltwinfx.com - web site coming soon) as an Ice Queen.  As I think I've mentioned, I *love* getting painted.. that's really what got me into body painting in the first place.  It was great fun - Brian's "evil twin" Nick painted another model as "fire" and the two of us had a great time shaking the whole place down. 

I was airbrushed and Heather (as fire) was hand-painted, and I think we made quite a dynamic duo... the silliest part of the story is that I had to fly home immediately after the fashion show where we showed off our artwork.. without having time to wash off first.  Yes, I flew from Orlando to Oakland in full-body Ice Queen paint.  Oh, the looks I got!!

The little girls in the picture thought I looked *so pretty* and wanted to take photos with me.  Little did they know I was standing behind them EATING THEIR BRAINS!!  

More pictures up at Picasa!  Enjoy!

I just got back from the Face Painting & Body Art Convention in Orlando, FL.  I got to work with and meet so many amazing people, and create some amazing art - as well as having incredible artwork painted on me!  (to be honest, I think being painted by a really great artist might be even more fun than doing the painting myself)

I also entered my first competition.  As a rule I'm not really the competition type.. I like to paint for fun and I don't usually like the stress that comes with competing, but this time I decided I wanted to push myself a bit and just use the competition as an excuse to create some art.  

I was rooming with another painter named Lacey who volunteered to be my model, and decided to enter the "fantasy" competition, since that meant I could use airbrush, brush & sponge, costuming - anything I wanted to create a beautiful art piece, with no restrictions.

This piece took about 3.5 hours.  I did most of the base colors and textures with the airbrush and most of the details with a brush, and then used my belly dance costume to complete the look.  I *loved* the way it turned out and so did Lacey - she was shaking her hips the whole night and jingling and really bringing the piece to life!

The idea was inspired by the hindu goddess Parvati - consort to Shiva and goddess of love and passion.  She was Shiva's inspiration and "shakti" or energy/life force - the force that drove him to create.  

I just got back from a honeymoon in Thailand where I saw so much buddhist and hindu artwork that really inspired me.. also, I wanted to paint elephants (as I fell in love with elephants in Thailand) and the little elephants around her waist were my very favorite part of this design!  

I loved creating this - and I entered her into the competition and won third place!!  Not too bad for my first competition piece!   I will probably add her to my portfolio site.  Yay!

More pictures of this piece available on my Picasa page!