Wednesday, June 6, 2012
The Honour of Belly Painting
Being a face and body painter is an absolute joy, no question. And having the opportunity to celebrate pregnancy by painting my clients is a total honour. So I was especially grateful for the bonding and intimate experiences of painting a few of my friends while they were pregnant over the past year and a half.
Carmen, an intelligent and intuitive firecracker of a woman, had baby Taiga in February 2011, just days after we painted her. Her talented photographer husband took beautifully moody and peaceful photos of the process and product, which was such a treat. Carmen completely left the design creation in my hands - a nerve-wracking and delightfully creative process. Belly painting photo by www.tanakayoshinori.com
Delightfully, the following year Carmen's sister Jill, a close friend of mine, announced that she was expecting. Jill didn't want a design that was a registered character or even specifically illustrative. She is influenced by some Eastern practices and philosophies in her life so I came up with a design to reflect this - a henna-inspired image full of warmth and tranquility. Jill gave birth this March to healthy little Hugo.
Ella, who I went to university with and have known for a decade requested a belly painting almost as soon as she knew she was pregnant - what an honour! Ella is an extremely thoughtful, kind and talented person, not to mention an amazing Mom already to her first little one, Mia. Mia hung out with us through the painting process, quiet, curious, and content the whole time we spent together. Ella is now the proud Mom of little boy Kipling as well. All three ladies had little boys!
It is profound to feel the movements of a wee human being, waiting patiently to meet the world, under the stroke of my brush. Thank you to these new Mommas for including me in your pregnancy experience. Congratulations to Carmen, Yoshi, Jill, Derek, Ella and Luca - you are beautiful parents and I am inspired by you all. I look forward to sharing many more laughs over the years and perhaps painting your children's faces some day too!
The unique and intimate experience of pregnancy painting makes a wonderful gift and lifetime memories. For further information, contact me at allyson@gossamerdesigns.ca
Friday, May 4, 2012
A Shout Out to the WCFBPA!
I am thrilled to have placed in the top 3 for a few more contest entries with the West Coast Face and Body Painting Association's bi-monthly contest and I wanted to thank you for your votes. This past contest was Easter Faces and I entered two designs and won first and second place! Thank you to Wolfe Face Art for sponsoring this month's contest. Wolfe Face Art products are vibrant and a great choice for professional face and body artists. (www.wolfefx.com) The contest entries can be viewed at http://www.westcoastfacepainters.com/contest_april2012easterfacepainting.html
I also won first place for the Valentine's Legs or Arms contest with the following entry below:
Thank you to Kristine and Nicole for being such lovely and cooperative models.
Stay in tune with my facebook page for postings about my public face painting events and newest contest entries.
Here comes the summer!
Friday, January 13, 2012
Thanks for your support!
Happy New Year! I am off to an exciting start for 2012 - lots of creative opportunities coming my way in various avenues of my life.
One of my commitments to myself artistically over the past several months has been to start creating face and body painting that is outside of my comfort zone. For me, this means anything that isn't part of my book of designs - unicorns, Spidermen, butterflies - my "easy" range.
I found an online forum that offers contests to North American West Coast Face and Body Artists and decided that I would enter at least one design every contest, no matter what the theme is. I can't believe I'm writing that here! That means I REALLY have to stay committed!
Well, as some of you know if you follow my facebook page, I garnered 1st place for my first entry in the Monster faces category. Thanks to an intense looking model and the votes of the public, my Snakehead Monster design (pictured)beat out the other entries. Fun!
The second contest I entered was Princess Faces. I really decided to go out on a limb for this one. I knew that most entries would be beautiful and full of swirls and flowers and wonderful girlieness and although I find that very appealing to paint and view, it didn't feel like an inspired challenge to me this time. So I took a risk and interpreted the theme my way: I painted the faces of iconic fictional princesses onto my models face. I placed third for this contest and felt brave for having submitted an "out there" entry.
Pictured here on my model: Princess Leia, The Paperbag Princess, She-ra Princess of Power, and Snow White (my interpretation, not the Disney version! I had to do research to be sure she was, in fact a princess).
The point of blogging about this isn't to brag (although it is a good opportunity for me to thank those who voted - thank you!!) but rather to publicly announce my artistic commitment to continue pushing myself outside of the box. I LOVE my birthday parties and my corporate events AND I need to continue developing my interpretations of how I paint, for my own fulfillment.
Having said that, watch for my latest entry coming soon on the next West Coast Face and Body Painters website. http://www.westcoastfacepainters.com/contestindex.html
The contest will be up by February and my entry will be the bee's knees! (That's a hint and that's all I will say!)
Thanks for your support,
Allyson
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