Let the wave take you

I've had several people ask me - between my Makeup Artistry, my Photography, my Hair Styling and my Modeling - what started it all and what drove me to pursue it? I'm here to lay to rest all the musings right now.

For starters, my mother can tell you I've been doing my own hair since I was a little girl. Playing "makeup" and posing for the camera was always in my genes. And I remember singing "the Little Mermaid" to my classmates at recess as they all sat around and listened. All these different art forms have always just been inside me. It's as simple as that.

I can recall when I was 16 or 17, I took my younger sister Jacqui and her friend and did their makeup, hair and styled their clothes and I took their pictures and we did my first "photoshoot" in the backyard.

I began to dabble in modeling myself then, but it was and has always been for the artistic beauty of it. The passion and expression I love to put into each image is what shows - I love beauty and love stretching myself in modeling to make something beautiful. Modeling for fashion or runway? I'm just not tall enough my dears :) And truly, I would be completely bored with that. I'm not trying to be the center of attention. I am just passionate about creating art with the lines of my arms, or my hands, or my face, or my body. That is what is truly beautiful to me.

From the modeling that I started 6 or 7 years ago, I found an opportunity and mentors to spur me on to pursue my TRUE love. The Makeup Artist. I have always been a painter, and "painting" on the face is my favorite of all. I love how hair can be twisted and shaped to create different moods and it lends the final effect to the look. Hair styling has always been a bit more of a strain for me, as Makeup Artistry is where my ease and creativity flow easily.

Which then led me to Hair Design school - once I had the finances to finally avail myself to study, I've thrown myself into it wholeheartedly. It's helped so much with understanding the intricacies of special hair-do's and has really helped me to amp up my fashion hair design styling for photoshoots. Obviously, this is all so very much in my blood! I wouldn't be happier doing anything else.

Which lastly this brings us right back again to my photography - I've always been fascinated by beauty in images. And whether I am in front of, behind or behind the scenes, as long as an incredible piece of art and beauty comes from it, I am happy and at peace. :)

Find what you love to do and do it! Let the wave take you :)

Alex

Last week I met Alex (below) and we had a wonderful shoot together. Her mother, Dawn, had contacted me about giving Alex her first modeling shoot for her portfolio for her birthday. Believe it or not, but Alex is just 15! Standing easily at 5'10 or so and her mature countenance, it was hard to remember she is still quite young. Alex was so fun to work with and really learned alot her first shoot. I'm sure she will have quite a career ahead of her.

Merry Christmas~

Another Christmas has come blowing through town... I suppose one could use this time to sit and reflect on the past - but all I see now is the warmth of the present. It's been a hard and wonderful year, one with so much growth and learning. I am thankful for all that I have, and I cherish the people in my life. My best wishes goes out to my friends and those whom have given me a helping hand this past year. I thank those as well, who have shown me that I need only my own backbone to calmly stand on my own two feet. I have dreams, and everyday I am making those dreams come true! All we have is the strength of our convictions and our integrity. I am proud to live by my honor and purpose. May you do the same! Merry Christmas my friends!

Jaimie

I met with Jaimie last week for another photoshoot with Chris Holmes - now, Jaimie is a brand new model - this was only her second shoot! She just got signed with an agency straight off the bat, so she was wanting some pictures to start her portfolio. I had brought along a lovely black dress of mine because she said she didn't have much to wear, and it fit her to a T. :) After hair and makeup, I helped her with some simple poses and Chris did a wonderful job with these images. Looking through them, I had to smile. They remind me very much of myself when I was starting out. And even in the full body shots - she kind of looks how I did too! Especially her hair - I guess I just like full wavy hair like that :)

Kate and Kristen

IMPORTANT:

To finish my certification for hair design, I am welcoming everyone to come see me for any Haircuts, Hair Coloring, Updo's, or Hair Extensions! I do not get paid for these services - get this deal while it lasts. Please email or call me for details :)

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In the past few weeks I've had a few shoots with Mike Larremore, and his images are fresh, fun and full of interest. For Kate, (yes, the same Kate as below! what a small world!), we went to the Art Institute of Portland and used one of the art studios to shoot in. I styled Kate with soft colors and kept her hair romantic and unkempt.



The other shoot was with Kristen Rautenbach, whom I have long waited to work with. She was so much fun, and really knew how to pose! Working against a fiery orange background can be daunting, but Kristen pulled it off with ease.

Kate Son

I have to apologize, I have been SO swamped with everything lately, that I just haven't had a moment to sit down and update. We are well, steering clear of all that swine flu business lol and I hope all is well with you! I wanted to show you a beautiful new set that I did with this new photographer, Chris Holmes.

Chris has been wanting to get into more of the fashion side of things, so he hired me to help him design his next several series of shoots. Our first set was with the lovely Kate Son, and I had such a wonderful time with her. She is so beautiful and truly has a heart of gold. I'm looking forward to another shoot with her this weekend! Take a look :)

Fingerwaves!

My friend Linsday, did these beautiful fingerwaves on me yesterday, and I promised her I would capture them in a photo for her. What do you think? Fingerwaves are SO HARD to do, and she and I were perfecting our skills yesterday. I love all these amazing things I'm learning, it's so much fun.

Thanks for all the support guys, you're the best!

Maksim

Things have been SO busy, but I wanted to put up these preliminary photos from my shoot with Maksim and Pete Bady. Awesome work you guys! Maksim is an up and coming model, full of energy and ideas, I loved it! He was so easy to work with and had several ideas for wardrobe and styling for each of the sets. Pete Bady really blew me away with his lighting skills and it was really a killer shoot. Thanks to everyone for all their hard work! I'll be putting up more as I get them :)

Alexandria

Alexa had contacted me a month or so ago, and said she wanted to do a Greed and Destruction concept. I was interested in the idea, and we had a fun shoot pulling it together. Alexa is so fun and quite the little actress! She wanted the first set to be quite snooty, and vain, and the second set, to show how devastating her loss of wealth would be.

PFW 2009

Portland Fashion Week 2009

Backstage @ FUSE

FUSE was an absolutely incredible show - one of the biggest and most gorgeous fashion shows produced in PDX. I'm still blown away by how grand and beautiful everything was! It was hosted in the ballroom of the Portland Art Museum, featuring dozens of top Portland designers and elite designers from Bejing, China.

Behind the scenes, my day started at 4pm, when I landed at Smashcut Studios to start on the makeup for the models. Myself, Nadia Kingston, Carrie Hamm, George M, and Caprice Hammon were the Makeup Artists for the show. Anyone who knows Caprice, knows they are working with the best! Caprice created the two look for us to style the models with, and the Smashcut Hair team was right behind us. When I arrived a bit before 4pm, we were told that the models were running about an hour behind! That's normal how things go :) It wasn't till later that the lost hour really put us into crunch time!

The models arrived by shuttle at 5pm, and we set to work at once. I finished my girls, and playfully reprimanded them not to lose ALL their lipstick as they giggled and went off to Starbucks. The shuttle arrived around 7:30 to take us all over to the Portland Art Museum. Arriving at the red carpet, we made our way thru and into the main ballroom to the runway. I was blown away by the beauty of it!



We moved on to the dressing rooms backstage and it was a flurry of models, designers, hair stylists and makeup artists. We had 8 more ladies to do their makeup on and 5 men! - and the show started at 9pm. I wish I could have gotten some pictures of all the hurry back there. It was an amazing rush of adrenaline - at one point one of my models was perched on a high table as I'm attaching her fake eyelashes, back to back with Caprice applying blush to her model and George asking if anyone has any more of the Look 2 lipstick - and the show manager is running past the door raising his voice over the chaos "FIFTEEN MINUTES till showtime. And we ARE starting on TIME". I wasn't worried, I knew we would have all the models ready in time. It was down to the wire, but at 2 minutes to the show, we were complete, everyone was dressed and we were backstage and poised :)



Watching the models walk in the lovely designs was another thing altogether. The lights, the music - it was one of the best show this town has ever seen! (here are some pics from the show)

International Fashion Show - FUSE - tomorrow!

SUPER psyched about tomorrow's Fashion Show - I'm going to be on the team of Makeup Artist's for the show. :) It's going to be freaking awesome.




http://www.katu.com/entertainment/events/59058922.html

Portland Fashion Synergy Presents

— FUSE —

A Black Tie Fashion Show Fundraiser

featuring designers from China and Portland

Friday, September 25, 2009
Portland Art Museum Kridel Grand Ballroom

1219 SW Park Avenue

Red-Carpet Pre-Party at 7 pm

Doors Open/Seating Starts at 8 pm

Fashion Show at 9 pm

Off-Site After Party Immediately Following

VIP Seating $150

General Admission $100

Tickets at www.pdxfashionsynergy.com/FUSE/

Ticket prices include a one-year PDXFS membership!

PDXFS Thanks Premier Partners and Sponsors:

Portland Art Museum , Art Institute of Portland, Mario's & Smashcut

All proceeds to Fuse an international fashion show support education scholarships, programs and events that create and expand business opportunities for current and next generation apparel industry professionals and support a thriving and sustainable apparel industry in Portland, Oregon.

FUSE is the highlight of a visit to Portland by a delegation of distinguished Chinese guests from the local government, university and fashion association in Zhengzhou, in the Chinese province of Henan. PDXFS is developing a strategic business relationship with this group in order to create professional and economic growth opportunities for Portland designers and students by opening the door to China and positioning Portland as a center for sophisticated, cutting edge design in the United States. As part of this relationship, PDXFS is exploring opportunities for student exchange between Chinese and Portland-based apparel design and manufacturing programs, and is discussing options for selling apparel from Portland designers to the Chinese market.

Our deadlines are tight and we’re moving fast. If you would like to participate in FUSE and related activities as a designer, boutique owner, sponsor or donor, please contact us today at info@pdxfashionsynergy.com!

In related news, PDXFS also announced that it is partnering with the Portland Art Museum to provide a fashion component for the gala opening event, as a part of their upcoming exhibit, China Design Now (October 10, 2009 – January 17, 2010). PDXFS will be providing eight exclusive looks from famous Chinese fashion designer, Chong Jing, to showcase during the cocktail hour. Visit www.portlandartmuseum.org for event details.

Mr T PDX

I finally had the opportunity to work with "Mr T" and it was such a great shoot. The lovely Miss Meredith was our subject that day and I am once again struck by her ability to create emotional images. Mr T was upbeat, and absolutely hilarious. And LOOK at the beautiful work he captured! He wanted me to create a "Twiggy" inspired look for Meredith, and with her beautiful eyes it was a simple masterpiece. Bravo my friends!

Spotlight: Designer, Michelle DeCourcy

"Michelle DeCourcy has been designing women's fashion since 2000, and has appeared in People, Cosmopolitan, Vogue Europe, Lucky, In Style and the LA Times. Her designs have been worn by scores of recording and film industry celebrities including: Norah Jones, Faith Hill, Sheryl Crow, Christina Aguilera, Michelle Branch, Mary Kate Olsen and Allison Krauss. For more information: www.MichelleDecourcy.com."

I had the most amazing opportunity last week to work intimately with Michelle DeCourcy for her Spring 2010 Collection, "La Vie". I was called to be the key Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist for the shoot! Talk about excited :D This shoot was to showcase her new line, and the images are now gracing her website - www.MichelleDecourcy.com.

When we met for the fitting for model, Jillian Rabe, I was, of course, a little nervous. But Michelle was so warm and down to earth, it was such a pleasure to work with her! She even told me that I reminded her so much of "Jennifer". (Aniston!) Ha! Well, she would know better than I :) Michelle and I hand-picked the half dozen pieces that were to be showcased by Jillian, and I fell in love with every piece I touched. Michelle truly knows how to create impeccably designed clothes that are chic, and stylish but also SO comfortable that you want to just wrap yourself up in them eveyday.

Michelle and I talked in detail about the look that she wanted to define her Spring 2010 collection. Beautiful, clean skin, wide and playful eyes, and a pop of fuschia colored lips. Hair that's touchable and beach-y! Not too polished, but still stylish. Sort of the grown up "rocker girl" she described. :) I was so pleased that Michelle loved the work I did on Jillian! She did mention that she's had horrible MUA's in LA, and it was so nice to have one that nailed it on the head the first time. :) Yay :)











Press:
"After an 18 month self-prescribed hiatus, Portland fashion designer Michelle DeCourcy will mark her return on the runway at Portland Fashion Week's Designer Collections Show on Friday, October 9th. Her new line - La Vie is scheduled for release in Spring 2010, and makes its debut at the annual fashion show that celebrates Portland's top design talent."

Bernadette

Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of shooting Bernadette in the studio - she was so much fun! She wanted to add a casual lifestyle/ fall-feeling look to her portfolio, so out came the hats and sweaters! With her fiery red hair and her bright eyes, it's been super hard to choose from so many pictures. Fantastic! :)

Hair.Makeup.Photo by me.