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

'Red Bird' drawing by Laura Hollick

Whenever I feel like I don’t know what to do or what direction to take I listen inwardly and I ask my spirit to send me a clue or symbol that I’ll understand.

Through many deep spirit conversations the red bird has become a strong symbol for me to let me know I’m on track. Whenever I see one (mainly cardinals in this area) I feel a warm joyful feeling.

How does your spirit communicate with you?

One of the best ways to build your connection with your spirit is to listen and watch for symbols and clues. The way you know if your spirit is sending you a message is determined by how you feel. The feeling will be something like this: peaceful, joyful, uplifting, high vibration, calming, soothing, loving. In other words something that feels ‘good’ to you.

It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else. In fact if you try to explain your symbols and clues to other people they can sound silly. Don’t worry about that, focus on how YOU FEEL.

If you don’t know how your spirit communicates with you then now is a great opportunity to ask your spirit to communicate with you.

Your Spirit Assignment

1. Ask your spirit to communicate with you.

2. Look for signs, symbols and clues that your spirit is communicating with you.

3. Notice how you feel.

4. Once you’ve spotted a sign, thank your spirit.

Ironically our dreams live just outside our comfort zone, which means we have to move through our  discomfort in order to experience what we desire.

I liken it to going into a body of water.  Think about how you enter a pool or lake?  Do you dive in or gradually move in?

I’m a toe dipper.  I test the water first to get a sense of it and then decide how I want to proceed.  Metaphorically this is a great way to think about stretching beyond your comfort zone. Think about your dreams and think about the fears stopping you from fully stepping into your dreams.

Now, using the toe dipping technique, stretch yourself ever so slightly beyond your comfort zone.  Each time you stretch out you can go a bit further,  until eventually you’ll find yourself all the way in!

Try it… where could you do some toe dipping in your life now?  Where could you stretch a bit further into your dreams?

'Red Bird dipping toes into dreams', watercolour by Laura Hollick

I was hunting for some feathers in preparation for an upcoming photoshoot with photographer Kevin Thom and body-painter Sue Upton.  Sue is going to be painting a red bird on my body.

While looking for feathers my eyes landed on something even better.  I discovered this watercolour painting I created about 5 years ago which I had completely forgotten about. Seeing it today felt like one of those moments when the clouds open up and the sky says “YOU ARE ON TRACK.”

Red Bird Body, watercolour by Laura Hollick

I would love to hear about your ‘ON TRACK’ moments…..