Day of the Dead : Collaboration with Pink Light Images and Hallie Garcia : Artist & Face Painter!

The following teaser set is the VISION of Hallie Garcia.  Her dream was to put together a "Day of the Dead" or "Dia de los Muertos" shoot involving her styling and designs of  face painting and atristry.  Below you can see the colors, textures and styling we all collaborated on.  IT WAS SO FUN!!!!!  I had already seen a few people in my life do their own sets of this theme - so it was of no surprise that we did our own to celebrate this kind of artistry.  Our original goal was TREES and FOG....but the never-ending rain threw our plans into a kind of plan B.  That is ok - we are planning part 2!

We have a lot of lovely and talented peoples in the DFW metroplex.  I'm glad to call quite a few of these ladies friends.  It has been fun putting together ideas and just having fun.  I have and keep writing down ideas that I want to accomplish for myself...and i'm knocking them out one by one.

My main goal really - NOT GET DISTRACTED.

I find that when I'm on the verge of really amazing creations - I get distracted before and I get distracted after.  I have emotional thoughts that come into my mind - and I'm getting better at fighting them - but sometimes they win.  Sometimes they don't!  I think when you stay on your path - true peace leads you.

Maybe it is because I don't mind the drama and battle within.  I would rather have a battle, than a boring life.  I may whine or complain and I may shut my mouth and just do the work.  The point is, I'm just being me.  The only ME I can be.  The ever-evolving artist expressing myself over and over and over as I jump from flower to flower or mountain to mountain.

Again, huge thanks to all the ladies that came out to play Tuesday nite.  This will be my final blog entry for the weekend as I nurse my neck and get well with these tense muscles.

Art comes from life.  Be it pain or joy.

We had a BLAST...and I hope you see it in our teaser images!!!!

Thank you, bless ya!

Much Love,Jen

Models: Carrie Sumner, Destiny Lenora, Hallie Garcia
MUA: Hallie Garcia
Styling: All of Us.
Photographer: Pink Light Images
Hair: Kat Howe

and here is the lovely quickie VLOG i put together for you today. have a great one!

Out of pains come art....

I think we can all relate to a lot of things the human race deals with.  We can feel alone, sad, depressed, helpless, hopeless...and on the flip side...we can feel full of love whilst battling inside the mind about who and what and where you are supposed to be in your life.

The journey for me has been such a significant part of my purpose that it is almost scary to look back and see just how far I've come with God....once I threw everything out of the box and got rid of the box...I'm slowly understanding more of the purpose for my life.

These last few weeks I've seen the number ONE a lot lately....in the time clocks usually.  1:11 and 11:11 all throughout the day.  Not looking for it, just glancing really.

Last Thursday was a huge definition for me and a ding ding ding moment that God's listening and hears my heart.  He know that sometimes I just don't understand certain things and how some opportunities come to me and some that seem right don't pan out.  They are all leading somewhere.  Am I mature enough to sit still and then GO when he says go?  I'm sure getting there!  I've learned recently - no point in doing something where you don't have peace.  But sometimes, fear is there too.  Any time you are about to overcome, learn, fail, fall - there might be fear there.

It is ok to miss the mark and ok to fail.  God uses every bit of our lives to interweave the super duper tapestry of our lives.  Have you stopped to realize just how intricate our bodies are? It still blows my mind.  This world is SO HUGE that if you have never stepped foot out of your home state-  how would you ever know?  The USA is large....you can see it from the sky when flying.

My first international flight...you realize WOW there is a whole other world and whole other culture and a whole other state of being on the other side of the world!!!  I knew this world was big, but wow!!! :)

So back to my ONE's.  After going to Oprah's life class last thursday I was able to get a few good nuggets from the session as well as something that I didn't expect.  A little surprise being moved from the 3rd floor down to the first floor.  Yep, you guessed it - we were moved to 111.  I got to share with with a friend of mine and tell her that I've been seeing this for weeks and how much it meant to me to be MOVED and HURRIED to the floor.  As if a promotion was waiting for me...and I had to run down the stairs and the escalator to get to it. ;)  We take our places to the seats we are given in the space we are given for the TIME we are given.

i took a picture of our section, so i could REMEMBER the goodness of favor!

What are you doing with YOUR time here?

By all means, enjoy your life - pursue your dreams...and access the creativity that awaits you to "create" the life that awaits for you.  I believe hand-in-hand God and I are drawing, sketching and painting and photographing the moments that will lead to the greater things and GREATER purpose for why I'm here.

Meanwhile, along the way....I'm going to enjoy the ride, enjoy the opportunities and reach for the dreams I know are there inside.   I'm also going to be frustrated, emotional and a lil energetic acting!!!!

The best thing you can do.....

get rid of your box.
THINK BIGGER.

When you hold onto your history, you do this at the expense of your destiny.

I've been challenged as well - to think bigger because I still haven't been thinking BIG ENOUGH.  But I also believe there is only so much I can comprehend and handle at one time.  I'm so thankful to the Lord for guiding me and giving me the wisdom to make the choices that need to be made and do the things He needs me to do.  Whilst my biggest reminder was - don't lose that relationship with HIM.  Make Him #1 and everything else will make sense.

My pains this week and weekly art have been from additional life frustrations, questions, learning i'm a fish out of water sometimes, totally don't know what i'm doing sometimes and learning as i go.  These are the things that frustrate me AND GROW ME.  So I dedicate this art to my future place.  The future place where I'm going to take my place as the artist I know I am...and be the person I'm supposed to be.  Through and Through.

This ART is dedicated to these moments this week:
I grabbed my camera, took a few props...and threw on some lipstick.  To me this radiates more of who I am...more of where I'm going....I love having fun and I love creating.

dedicated to this week's roller coaster ride of love, frustration and being me.

Take care.....

Much Love...........................

A great day to art-ify things!

so i'm prepping myself for a unique challenge....................

TEACHING and SHOOTING a workshop!!!!!!!!!!!

You could say really i'm partnered up with some amazing people: models, stylists, MUAs....we are about to have some crazee fun in Green Bay.

In prep for my time there....(of which i want NO wasted time!)....I started thinking of things and ideas i could work into our time together with modeling and art and props.

So in prep for my journey, I grabbed some goggles and will also have one more tidbit on the way in for my shoot this weekend.  I hardly feel ready, but i know that the magic happens when we also fly by the seat of our pants.  In other words, it is nice to have ideas...but just sit back and let it alllll unfold!!!! :)

If all goes well, (and we know it will) some of these will be published in select magazines for related topics and themes.  We have a *mini plan* in place...and next....to CAPTURE IT!!!!

Meanwhile, enjoy these silly images of me prepping for the shoot this coming weekend....

can you believe it is almost 4th of July?