Sunday, July 11, 2010

Belly Painting Packages now available



























Belly Painting: Allyson J Grant (www.gossamerdesigns.ca)
Photography: Janine Armstrong (www.janinearmstrong.com)

Do you know a wonderful woman who is pregnant? Consider the following as a unique and exciting gift! I am now offering pregnancy painting services, or as known in various parts of the world, "Gestational Painting".

Belly painting has become very popular in the UK and various parts of the States, and is gaining hype across Canada too. I have had the privilege to paint two expecting women over the past few months - what moving experiences! Over the course of the hour or so that I was painting their bellies, I watched the belly change form, or could feel the heartbeat with my fingertips as I worked. Amazing.

Jess, the first woman I worked with a few months ago, was around 7 months pregnant when she came to the studio for her session. She was open to any design as long as it wasn't too girly or boyish (as she didn't yet know the gender of the baby), so I created a Tree of Life design, which is associated with knowledge and wisdom in many cultures and religions across the globe. I am happy to report that Jess gave birth to a healthy baby boy a few weeks ago!

The second woman I had the pleasure of painting just last week was Becca, who was already just over 8 months pregnant on the day of the shoot. I knew that she liked fairies, and since she was also open to design suggestions, I decided to have a quietly coloured theme of dawn breaking, just before the fairies disappear for the day. Becca was absolutely glowing, and the photographs truly display her beauty.

I have had several opportunities now to work with a wonderful photographer named Janine (www.janinearmstrong.com), a relaxed and professional worker who is both artistic and efficient. We have created an exciting Belly Painting package which includes the following:

*Consultation prior to Creation Session to determine imagery wishes, interests and likes of Mom-to-be
*Creation Session either in studio or on location of your choosing
(consists of a 2-3hr belly painting and photography session)
*Access to web res files of the photos to select from, on an online gallery
*Option to purchase any number of prints in an array of sizes

If you are interested in giving this amazing gift to a special woman in your life or if you are pregnant (congratulations!) and want to celebrate by being painted and photographed, please contact me for details. This is a great baby shower gift - a bunch of gals could pool together to book this fun and surprizing present!

Cheers!
Allyson
allyson@gossamerdesigns.ca

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Summer is here!




Hello All!

Well, despite the fact that we've had a slightly cooler start to the summer than we're used to, my face painting season is off to a wonderful start and I had a very busy June. I am so thrilled to have a job that has me interacting with some of the most honest and funny people on the planet - children. This season I've had comments like "Wow, I look fantastic" from a boy who requested blue, orange and green fireworks on his face, had a little girl tell me she loves me, and had a hoard of "regulars" from last season come barreling down the hill yelling my name at the Royal City Farmer's Market when they saw me for the first time!

I love having a job that creates a big smile every 5 minutes. I have been at several corporate and community events so far this season with many more to come and have done some exciting theme parties too, being greeted by open-mouthed awe when arriving as a fairy, or to shrieks galore of "THE PRINCESS IS HERE!" when I rang the doorbell as Princess Allyson.

Pictured here is Tijana, one of the beautiful birthday girls I had the pleasure of meeting this year when I arrived as Princess Allyson. I have also posted a tear-smudged-but-3/4-still-existing photo of her precious sister Sofie (she had a short-lived cry during the party at some point but came back as strong as ever), who wonderfully chose to have a blue fire-breathing dragon at a party where almost every other girl had a butterfly! Independent thinking - I love it!

I will be blogging occasionally about upcoming public events I will be at, as well as updates to my services, so stay posted if you want to know where to find me and what I'm up to!

Thanks for stopping by,
Allyson