Draw, Ignore the Fear & Give Yourself Creative Freedom

You know that feeling you get when you've just created something really pretty and you wonder if you should add more or leave it alone? Quit while you're ahead or push the boundaries!? It's a tough call and it's so disappointing when you decide to add more and then it all gets messed up — total disappointment :( So this morning when I sat down to draw, I challenged myself / gave myself permission to keep going until I hit the final wall — until I was no longer curious about what else I could do. I wanted to experiment with letting my creativity explore free of fear of messing up. Where would I go without holding back? (I took a photograph every stage of the way as insurance.) Right out of the gate my blue eraser stained the paper blue. Great.... 

First, I drew the hydrangea flowers with pencil. Then I tried shading. Still not happy. So I painted their outlines but that just looked so cheesy. I started smearing the watercolour paints but that just looked messy. Could I save it? Then I started throwing the paint because I LOVE splattered watercolours! It starts splashing onto her face and I was worried it would look weird to have spots on her face but I kept going. Then I grabbed my can of gold glitter spraypaint! I tried to give her golden hair but accidentally sprayed across her cheek. I tried to rub the paint off with a wet tissue but it turned her whole check blue. I rubbed the blue off with a dry tissue but it tore the paper and smudged all the pencil. FAIL. 

I took the image into Photoshop and retouched her skin smooth :) Hooray for retouching! Then I dropped it into Exposure 4  and added some funky effects & pasted on my logo. It makes me think of a postcard that I'd find in a crafty little bookstore that sells notebooks and Kindle covers that make you wish you could buy them all. ha! 

So, VOILA!! That's my creative challenge for this week — start drawing and don't stop until you literally run out of ideas or reach excited satisfaction — IGNORE the fear of messing up & take photos along the way! Id' love to see what you come up with! Tag me in your photo(s) or email your creation to me at info@chamonixthurstonrattue.com HAVE FUN!

Designing New Watermarks for My Photography Artwork

Oh what a dilemma. A headache...that's fun & addictive. When it comes to design, branding & editing photograph, I slip into creative quicksands so darn fast and get reeeaal stuck. It's because I love all the possibilities and I thrive off of the freshness of switching things up regularly — when I was a kid I would rearrange my bedroom at least once a month — nothing's changed. When I first started my photography business I wasted days of my life switching between logos that in retrospect were pretty terrible. Now I've made some progress and things are lookin' a little classier but I still love the thrill of updating my 'look.' 

Last week I spent a couple hours playing in Photoshop. Having guidelines that keep my brand identity consistent really helps because it gives me room to play within a defined box. I know I'm not going to go adventuring with completely random fonts. I ALWAYS and ONLY use Century Gothic & Garamond. I have the flexibility to just use my name, combine my name with my job description (Women's Portrait Photographer) or website or signature. I can use a border around my photographs of paste my watermark logo directly onto the image. I can have the typed name in the border and the signature on the image — this makes it look more like painted artwork. 

I do struggle with the choice between using the pretty swirly signature that looks gorgeous and artsy but is hard to read AND the less interesting but very legible typed name. At the end of the day the whole point of putting my name on the photo is to help the viewer identify the artist and be able to find me if they want to hire me, right? I like have words on the image but I also don't want the words to distract from the subject.

Oh the possibilities will drive ya completely bonkers but ever since I set some rules for myself I've found designing things for my business is more enjoyable and less stressful. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming images that will have my new watermarks! 

The Hunt for Our Future

Miggy and I have been on job websites for days. We've been sitting in the forest, talking in the car, staying awake late into the night. What are we going to do? We've been wrestling with possibilities and exhausted with the stress that comes with making big decisions. 

We've spent multiple summers/years living in our parents homes and we are feeling the itch to get out into the world and spread out young adult wings. We are tired of counting pennies when we go grocery shopping. We dream of having date nights that require more formal attire and being able to visit our friends around the world. Miggy wants dogs. I want to buy organic vegetables (lots of them!...from the farmer's market). I long for peace of mind — no longer having to worry about being able to pay the bills next month and not having to use credit cards. I don't have any debt right now but any minute a bill might arrive that might force me to swipe the card. 

Anywho, I love being home in my Snoqualmie valley, with my beautiful baby vegetable garden, a FREE big photography studio, a FREE bedroom, and lots of shared food BUT we're starting to feel that itch to move on. Our criteria is sunny weather for Migs, warm weather for me, we like being near the water, we'd enjoy having a place of our own, space for me to grow vegetables (pots will suffice for the time being), and steady paychecks that pay bills and make future dreams come true and sparkly. It's such a rough decision, especially the idea of leaving behind loved ones and awesome teammates, but we've reached the end of the sidewalk and we've got to jump somewhere.

We're thinking California & Hawaii. Any suggestions my friends?

New Wardrobe for my Portrait Studio — A Black Tutu & A Floral Shoulder Piece

Last Christmas I made my first tutu — GIANT and snowy white. I let it sit on the mannequin for months, thinking that it was 'too extreme' for the average woman! I was waiting for some rockstar diva that sleeps in high heels. Silly me, making stupid assumptions. Then one day I nervously said, "Maybe you'd want to try on the tutu?" And then BOOM.... I learned my lesson. I offer the tutu to every woman who comes in my studio and I have yet to meet a woman who doesn't feel gorgeous as she glides around the studio in tulle. But the time has come for some variety! I made another tutu this week, fluffier - multiple layers that are all different lengths! This time I used my mom's sewing machine and the tasks was easy-peasy — I didn't even prick my finger once! I boiled the skirt for an hour in black fabric dye and hung it outside off the deck in the sunshine to dry. Of course, once on the mannequin, I needed to spice the outfit up a little with a gorgeous floral shoulder piece! It's my first time making a floral piece like this — it's all pinned together at the moment but later this week I'll plop on a good movie and stitch it all into place. 

Yesterday, one of the most beautiful 15 year old girls in the whole world come to my studio for a photo shoot with her mom & her grandma and she let me photograph her in the new black tutu! She had so much fun — she was literally dancing in frontof the mirror and throwing the fabric around even before I picked up my camera. Stay tuned for those portraits — coming later this month!