A couple of weeks ago I teamed up with Alysander De Djinn Photography and my gorgeous friend Jordan for a little creative play day - inspired by the delectable works of Australian artist Del Kathryn Barton. The shoot was a fun way for Alysander and I to work together, for me to finally get my amazing friend to model for me before she leaves the country indefinitely and to test out some ideas that have been floating around in my head for a while now.

I commenced work on a huge backdrop painting a week before the shoot - taking inspiration from elements of Del Kathryn Barton's amazing collection of work. Utilizing an old projector screen I happily scored in the local hard rubbish week I busied myself drawing, painting, styling and cutting a wig and making props up until 2am on Saturday morning when I realized I'd lost all sensitivity in the tip of my right thumb...which no, still hasn't returned!!!

To be frank it was an AWESOME day of shooting - one of those happy occasions where picking the final photos is almost impossible as there are just far too many you're in love with.... We're hoping to have the final photos ready, edited and printed to be exhibited at the RAW Melbourne: Revolution showcase on the 23rd April :) If you fancy popping along tickets are a mere $15 and available here: http://www.rawartists.org/elvisschmoulianoff

xxx

Ladies and Gentlemen and everyone in-between - I am proud to say that my first stop motion experiment is finally complete!! It has been a rather lengthier process than originally anticipated but well worth the journey as I have learned a considerable amount about makeup, photography, lighting, animating and editing along the way - lessons I very much intend on carrying forward into the next installment :)

Painted is in essence an experiment that I embarked on in how to best animate body art and an attempt at giving a creative medium that I adore it's own personality. Along the way the paint started to take on a life of it's own and proceeded to lead me on a little adventure that pays homage to the many amazing artists who have inspired me over the years. The first few sequences were roughly storyboarded and went through several major changes as I started to learn more about what I was doing - whereas the latter came from moments of inspiration and developed more organically in a spur-of-the-moment kind of way.

Though I originally had a very different idea for the audio I found that the tempo of Flow Motion by my lovely friend Square One helped to give the images momentum they needed to keep ticking over happily. In the end I got so used to using the track when I showed the unedited version to friends or family that it became entwined with what I was doing and it therefore seemed fitting to scrap my initial ideas and keep it with the final cut :)

The animation has been online for a week or so now and I'm happy to say that despite it being just a silly experiment I've had some lovely feedback - including some very kind words from two of the incredible artists whose work inspired it :D

xxx

Over the last few years I have been privileged enough to work alongside some amazing people - make-up artists, photographers, costumiers, music producers, event companies....every collaboration brings with it new friends & sources of inspiration and it seems only fitting that I share these amazing people with you. With this in mind I have been working to give the Links page a make-over so I can give these wonderful folk some of the praise and admiration they deserve and you can see for yourselves just how awesome they are.

First up is the wonderful Grace McComisky - an amazingly creative & passionate freelance makeup artist & undoubtedly my favourite person in the world to collaborate with, Grace is highly skilled in all areas of the art. From stunning beauty make-ups & imaginative prosthetics to intricately hand knotted wigs & custom made props this girl can make just about anything with her hands & always with beautiful results! As well freelancing she runs her own company - the wonderful Happy Slap Boutique - &  has worked on a large variety of productions including Tim Burton's Dark Shadows & the upcoming World War Z. Grace is always excited about new collaborations no matter how big or small so don't be shy about getting in touch! Visit her website to learn more and have a sneaky peek at her portfolio, then check out the Links Page to check out more amazing people!

I'm currently in sunny Sydney (shock horror the sun actually does shine in Australia!) working on a new film by director/writer John Duigan. The script is great and everyone involved is absolutely lovely - plus I think I may be falling for Sydney, its really wonderful to be back in a great big sprawling metropolis :)

I've been shopping around topping up my kit for this project and would like to recommend professional make up store  'Make up and Glow' to any Australia based artists. They have been an absolute delight to do business with over the past couple of weeks - always reply to any queries promptly, have good deals on their products, offer a professional discount to make up artists and are always quick to put your orders in the post! In fact a couple weeks ago I made an order from them and another from a company in Sydney, and despite the fact that Make up and Glow are all the way up on the Gold Coast my order from them arrived two days before the other which is only on the other side of the city! Visit their online store here www.makeupandglow.com.au

I'm still absolutely loving the Flickr group 'My Face is my Canvas' and think the creator should give themselves a great big pat on the back. This weeks challenge was to emulate a piece by  the awesome Illamasqua creative director and make up artist Alex Box - a giant inspiration of mine, that lady is just so damn talented! Here's a photo of her work followed by a bit of self face paint inspired by it:

Bill Turpin is an absolutely amazing prosthetics artist whose work I stumbled across a few years ago in an issue of 125. Having just come across the magazine again I looked him up and am completely blown away by his work - not only is it technically brilliant but the images are so  visually rich and interesting. Check out his website and see for yourself: www.billturpin.com