lockdown is not such a bad place when you have fabulous inmates...

a creative collaboration with the multi talented ellie walker of the mama jinx collective, on a sunny afternoon in the early days of lockdown.

headpiece, modelling & styling by ellie walker

makeup & photography by yours truely

xxx

Lockdown has been a great opportunity to experiment and I have been incredibly fortunate to have a few willing canvases trapped at home with me...  one grey and melancholy morning, inspired by the beautiful digital artwork and colour palettes of Xhxix whose work often deals with themes of loneliness, we took to the garden and the overcast skies to take advantage of the soft light and spring blossoms.

Ive been wanting to expand my work into the realm of cinemagraphs for a while and the falling blossoms provided the perfect opportunity to collage some movement into the stillness. I'm looking forward to learning to work more with this medium and to be able to offer it as a service with my creative portraiture.

Thank you to the wonderful Justin Mcdonnell for modelling for me <3

xxx

Lcokdown has been an interesting time. Though ive been generally embracing the oppertunity to work on personal projects and delve into creative possibilities, There came a weekend were all I could bring myself to do do was sleep. Waking was being nowhere, unable to connect, converse, focus, smile, cry, even muster the motivation to escape into a film or the pages of a book. Cocooned in a blanket of soft, deep, sadness that seemed to have bubbled up of its own accord and wasn't letting anything else in nor I out. I was not best pleased I can tell you....

What eventually broke through the haze was catching onto the drifting though of painting, and I thought...maybe... instead of trying to sleep this off why not just allow it to be, really feel it, express it, play with it... It's truly amazing how much this helped - trying to convey the emotion in paint and photo, acknowledging and processing what i was feeling, exploring it and then literally washing it down the drain when I was done.

Its paved the way for a wonderful week of learning, experimenting and creating and helped me slip into a zone I'd lost the keys to for over a year. And, its reminded me to be grateful for the downs, because they are part of the cycle that brings the ups - which really are far more fun let be honest