Becoming the Red Bird
All of my art and ideas come from the same place. They come from channeling spirit.
When I’m in nature I often get visions and flashes of ideas that put me in direct communication with spirit. To honour these experiences I do what I can to make the visions a reality.
I had a vision of merging my body with a bird body, which is the basis of the ‘Red Bird Body Painting’ piece. I approached body painter and makeup artist Sue Upton to see if she would collaborate with me on this project. She is a powerful creative force, so I knew that we could come up with a way to make this happen.
Here are some of the preliminary sketches as we try to figure out how this idea is going to become a reality…
Once we figured out a pose and a composition for the piece, we had to figure out what the bird would look like. Here are some of the sketches showing the various birds that were considered before finally deciding on the final one.
Here is the final bird painting…
This is a life size canvas bird painting, which serves as the backdrop for the body painting.
Although I am a painter myself, I felt it was important for Sue Upton to paint the bird so that it would match her body painting style. She did an excellent job.
Creating this piece was a two day job.
There was a lot of preliminary work involved in figuring out the details for this piece. The actual photoshoot was quick considering all the prep. time. The final image was photographed by Kevin Thom.
Here I am as the Red Bird….
‘Laura Hollick as Red Bird’. Photographed by Kevin Thom. Painting& body painting by Sue Upton.
Body Painting is a unique creative process where the body becomes the canvas and the ground for an idea to take shape. There is a quote by Henry Miller, that I’ve really taken literally:
“Whoever uses the spirit that is in them creatively is an artist. To make living itself the art, that is the goal.”
To me, this means that the true art is to become a living breathing expression of your spirit. Body painting is one of the ways that allows me to become the art.
Do you want to see more body painting pieces I’ve been part of?
Check out when I was transformed into a tree with birds CLICK HERE
See how I was transformed into a blue forest CLICK HERE
Tags: behind the scenes, body painting, creative process, kevin thom, red bird, Sue Upton
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January 24th, 2010 at 9:40 am
It was fascinating and exciting to be part of these extensive creative processes!
January 24th, 2010 at 10:57 am
hi laura, the red bird is fantastic. where are your workshops held? i’d really like to get involved in the adventure. will you look at my artwork sometime? sincerely yours, angel
January 24th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Hi Angel,
The upcoming Soul Art workshop is held at Soul Art studio in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Would love to see you there!
with joy
Laura
January 24th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Beautiful!!!
January 25th, 2010 at 2:35 am
hi laura your work is greet ,thank you
medischa
January 26th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
[...] also read Laura’s fascinating blog post about this shoot. Related [...]
January 27th, 2010 at 11:37 am
This is just beautiful! Thanks for sharing it here.
Terry
January 27th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
WoW! What imagination…..the final image turned out beautiful! I liked how you showed the preliminary drafts too.
January 27th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
This is just amazing, I’ve never seen anything like it! So glad to see the steps in the creative process you use, and I look forward to seeing more.
Sue
January 27th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Laura, your work has taken my breathe away!
Mitch
January 27th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Wow, Laura! Not only is the final piece just stunning, the whole process is fascinating!! Thanks so much for sharing your soul and beauty with us all. XO, Katherine. ♥
January 27th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Laura you’re a very talented artist. It is very obvious that your art is spiritually motivated. I LOVE it and want to see more!
Lynn
January 28th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Laura -what a beautiful gift you have! Thankyou for sharing the process, so often those of us who are less creative often dont realise the process of development from inspiration to artwork. Thankyou!
January 28th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Wow, Laura. Your work is like nothing I have ever seen and is absolutely stunning! I absolutely loved seeing the process behind it (and the tree and blue forest). Totally gorgeous. Wow.
Warmly,
Jessica
January 28th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Hi Laura,
This is stunning! I’ve been perusing your website and have fallen in love! I have a fine arts degree and it’s taken me back to my past and really made me think… I can’t wait to meet you!
January 29th, 2010 at 9:25 am
Laura – what an amazing process and incredible end-result – you are so talented and creative! Trudy