My ideas usually come to me while I’m hiking in the forest. Once I have an idea, I start playing with it to figure out how I can turn it into reality. Here is one of the initial sketches for the Rainbow Tree photoshoot.

As the seasons are changing from Fall to Winter the landscape in the forest is quite mono-tone. I thought it would look so beautiful to have a tree glowing with rainbow amongst all the other sleeping trees.

To bring the Rainbow Tree image to life I gathered my team and we started to work on the  idea.

I worked with Sue Upton to do my hair and makeup with rainbow accents.

My hair was braided with the same wool and fabrics that were used to wrap the tree.

I worked with photographer Kevin Thom to bring the image to life.

The location for the Rainbow Tree was a bit of a hike in from the road so we used a cart to bring loads of fabric, the ladder and camera equipment to the location.

Then we went to work!

It took over 3 hours to wrap the trees. Once everything was wrapped I changed into my Rainbow dress and we snapped the shot. I always giggle at how fast the photo is compared to the hours that go into making that moment happen.  Kevin studied the composition while I was wrapping the trees so it was easy to put me in position and get the shot.

Here is the final image of the Rainbow Tree.

Rainbow Trees, Laura Hollick. Photographed by Kevin Thom.

Click to watch the video of the making the Rainbow Trees.

‘nü Native Earth’ Laura Hollick photographed by Kevin Thom.

‘nü Native Air’ Laura Hollick photographed by Kevin Thom.

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Click here to see Behind the Scenes of the nü Native photoshoot.

nü Native Air and nü Native Earth were created with a team of creative people.  I worked with photographer Kevin Thom, bodypainter Sue Upton and designer Lissa Hill.

Like most of my ideas, the idea for this shoot came to me while I was hiking in nature.  I had already created the bean headpiece for last week’s photo and I knew I wanted to do more with it to pull out the rich browns and earthy colors. I was walking in Canterbury Hills in Ancaster, and I saw the tall grasses swaying in the wind. I thought this would be the perfect setting for another bean headpiece creation.

I started sketching possibilities.

I had extra bean pieces and created fingers that attached on to my own fingers.

The rust colored dress with black velvet leaf patterns was something Lissa Hill and I worked on together the year before. I had never really used the dress. It felt as if it was waiting for this shoot!

In order to pull the dress and the head piece together there needed to be some kind of body painting or tribal touch to make it feel earthy rather than too glamourous. I worked with Sue Upton to create the bodypainting to match the leaf pattern on the dress and echo some of the bean shapes.

Kevin Thom and I drove out to Canterbury Hills. It was a very cold day with strong winds that made the bean headpiece sound like a rattle every time the wind blew by.

We created a video from this shoot. You can watch the video here.

We also created 2 images.

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‘The Legend of nü’ Laura Hollick photographed by Kevin Thom. Makeup by Sue Upton.

Behind the Scenes creating The Legend of nü photo

It started on a fabric shopping adventure where I found the most beautiful magenta fabric with black poka-dots. It instantly reminded me of the nü symbol for the nü Business Mentorship Program.

I knew I wanted to created something with it so I started sketching possibilities. I never really know how something is going to turn out. I just dive into the creative process and let the process lead me and teach me what its message is.

I worked with designer Lissa Hill to bring my design to life. I’m great at imagining things, but not so great at tailoring. Lissa is a dream to work with, she started her design journey as a coutour Wedding Designer so she is masterful at making elaborate outfits fit seamlessly.

While on a hike one day I discovered dark brown bean-like shapes that had fallen from the tree. I instantly got the vision to use the beans to make Medusa-like hair. I collected them up and laid them out to figure out how I could transform them into hair.

I used a glue gun to attach the beans onto a hat form. The hat was then secured to my head using my hair. I love how they create a storm of aliveness!

Sue Upton created the magenta mask to match the magenta dress.

I wanted a mask to bring focus to the eyes. When we are creating the nü paradigm so much of the journey is about how we look at things and how we perceive our reality. I wanted to show that we can see the world the way we want.

Of course I needed to do some laundry before heading out to do the photoshoot! Being a Creative Spiritual Entrepreneur is about blending and balancing all aspects of life into one thriving ecosystem!

This photo was created in collaboration with photographer Kevin Thom. He is my creative soul mate. We have created dozens of photos and videos together. He totally gets my vision and evolves it to another level. I’m always blown away by what we create together!

Kevin and I scouted out the perfect location to do this shoot and we discovered this calm beach in Burlington Ontario.  These are test photos to get the lighting set up.

I love how the final image creates the appearance of a pending storm. I feel the nü paradigm is like a storm, but a storm of our own creation. When we perceive our reality in the way we desire we can view the storm as generating the energy needed to create the life we desire.

To watch a video from this photoshoot  click here

To learn more about the nü Business Mentorship Program

The set of Soul Art TV Season 2 is filled with paper cranes made from my old journal pages where I spent years exploring what it takes to THRIVE as a Creative Spiritual Entrepreneur.

For Season 2 we have gathered the Leading Creative Spiritual Entrepreneurs of 2011 to uncover what they do to thrive in their life and business and how you can too!

What does THRIVING mean to you?

Soul Art TV Season 2 launches on October 4th!

Photo of Laura Hollick by Kevin Thom.

Get ready to be inspired!

Watch for the new season coming soon!

We will be exploring the theme THRIVE in Soul Art TV Season 2.
What does it mean to you to THRIVE as a Creative Spiritual Person?

This is a behind the scenes sneak peek into Soul Art TV.

Soul Art TV goes live on Tuesday January 11th at 11am!! sign up to watch Soul Art TV here

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

Laura Hollick is transformed by body painter Cherie Pia Grassa to become one with the Blue Forest.

I had no idea being blue would be so much fun!

In the forest with body painter Cherie Pia Grassa and hairstylist Mario Grassa. Photo by Kevin Thom

To see the final image of the Blue Forest CLICK HERE