Daydreams of body paint, color & fairy tales!

I "led" a class in Eureka Springs on Sunday. My session was "Daydreams of body paint, color & fairy tales!" Here is the description of my class:

"What do you dream about at night? I'm a dreamer just like most of you. I like photographing themed images that are visually captivating. This photo shoot will be a show stopper and is a must for your portfolio!

I plan on transforming a model into a character that would be perfect for any fairy tale. I will be using body paint to create imagery on her as well as using the paint for a bra-like top. I am going to have some kind of flowing skirt made of tulle attached to her. She will have huge hair, incredible make-up and accessories galore! The model will be adorned and you will want to photograph every aspect of her!

I have not chosen the exact theme but she will be exotic, ethereal and something right out of your wildest fantasies! She will be some kind of fairy, mermaid, or some sort of creative being. You will not want to miss out on this!"

Anyways, I knew it was going to be a LOT of work. I enlisted Colleen to help me!! Colleen is majoring in art, too. We both loved the idea of a human canvas! I've been collecting stuff for several months now for the shoot. I bought some of the Ben Nye body paints in Vegas. Colleen brought her elf ears. We used eyebrow plastic/wax to cover the models eyebrows and re-created them with rhinestones. We painted non-stop from 11 am until 3pm. The hair was created with a styrofoam ball and human hair extensions. We used spirit gum and eyelash glue to create the patterns and glue things to the models body. The "pasties" are iron on patches from hobby lobby. The lime green shiny skirt is material I got from hobby lobby. We safety pinned it on her. The big poof skirt with the attached wings are something my mom made and I used it for this particular shoot! Melanie is the model!


Image of Melanie - behind the scenes at the PSNWA symposium in Eureka Springs.

Word of the day: Magical

Colleen = magical!

Word of the day. Dramatic

Word of the day! KARMA!

Lately I've been talking to friends about karma. What it means, why we believe it etc. I'm a FIRM believer of karma. I'm also a firm believer of "what goes around, comes around" and I believe in "you reap what you sow."
My friends and I have conversed about how some people just never seem to learn! If you're not familiar with karma - read below!


Copied from this website: http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/karma.html

The shortest explanation of karma that I know is: 'you get what you give'. In other words; whatever you do intentionally to others, a similar thing will happen to yourself in the future.
Our largest obstacle to understanding or even believing in karma may be time. The 're-actions' or results of our actions show up with a time delay, and it becomes extremely hard to tell which action caused which result. Actions done in a previous life can create results in this life, but who can remember their past life? For ordinary humans, the mechanisms of karma can be intellectually understood to some extent, but never completely "seen".

The idea behind karma is not only found in Buddhism and Hinduism; it seems that the Bible certainly conveys the same essence:

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A person reaps what he sows.
(Gal. 6:7)

All things whatsoever you would that men should do to you,
do even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
(Matthew 7:12)

Simply said, if we chose to ignore the workings of karma, we tend to create many problems for ourselves. For example, if we like to have something expensive, but we cannot afford it, it becomes very tempting to steal. If we are smart and attentive enough, we may never be caught stealing. However, by stealing, we create problematic situations for ourselves in the future, like poverty, or being the victim of robbers. Therefore, if we chose to ignore karma, the results of our actions will still haunt us.

Every mainstream religion teaches us about the consequences of our actions. The explanations may differ, but does it really matter in the end whether the law of karma causes us trouble or God himself in his final judgement?

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
Unknown source
Two of my personal favourite reasons to believe in karma, are that it represents ultimate justice as everyone will harvest the results of their actions, and even if karma would not exist, as long as I try to avoid negative actions, the world would be a better place to live in for everyone anyway.


And a fun thing! I changed my hair! It was getting SO long and shaggy. I HAD to do something. Erin over at "Be Salon" cut my hair. I met her in art classes and found out she had her own salon. She has curly hair just like me and we have always cussed & discussed our hair issues. So she gave me a cool cut and even straightened it for me after the cut. I love it! It looks cute curly as well! YAY!

Catching up !

I've collected so many photos in my little camera....I finally dumped them all and figured I'd post all our spring activities! :-)





Good times at springfest!


Hunting for 4 leaf clovers....and finding a 5 leafer!

I am married to the coolest and silliest guy ever! I love him!

Taking my husband on a trip to Hobby Lobby is always an experience!

Where's Amelia? Where's the cat? Amelia has so many stuffed animals!


Doug is always bringing me all kinds of flowers...

Doug is so cute playing guitar hero!

Guitar Hero. I won't play it....cause' I know I will suck at it.

Dancing at the Siloam Springs Nursing home.

Me & the Lucy Lu....I don't know what we are doing....acting silly for sure!

Diana & Lucy at Barnett's. Taking orders! HA!

Me & Amelia at Barnett's in Siloam. Hanging out after performing at the nursing home.

Which one?

I have 3 choices to choose from for my new Glam Girl logo. Which one do you like the best? Post your comments or shoot me an email on which one is your favorite! Thanks!

Dress up session

I always love doing a "themed" shoot! This time the theme was gold & exotic!

Ghosts! Boo!

So the photo Colleen took at Joe & Mischelyn's wedding has stirred up some "bootastic" emails and comments! HA! So I thought I'd post the images that I have. The Crescent Hotel has been featured on the ghost hunters show. I seem to manage some kind of "activity" photo each time I go there. You can check out more about the ghosts at the Crescent here: http://www.eureka-springs-ghost.com/
I have more images but I will have to dig around for them.





This one was taken by my friend Deb Manley. I posted the original and another I tried to lighten up in Photoshop. None of these images have been manipulated in any way.

Wedding with Kimberlea Bass Photography

I was a 2nd shooter for a wedding for Kimberlea Bass Photography.

http://www.kkbphotography.com

I love 2nd shooting with Kimberlea. It allows me to try new stuff and experiment with no flash, etc. This bride & groom were married at the Bell Gable Chapel in Fayetteville. LOVE that place. It's the place that Doug & I want to re-new our vows at. It's perfect. I love the ladies that run the place! They come to belly dance classes and they are just a hoot!

Thanks Kimberlea for hiring me this past weekend. I also get to shoot a wedding with her this coming Saturday as well!