Spontaneous mandala

Sometimes a design just has to come out, one way or the other and you don't even know it has been brewing in the back of your brain!

A fun drawing...

There are a few henna groups on facebook these days and part of the fun is participating in weekly challenges. This design was my answer to a challenge posted by the Henna Gathering facebook page. The challenge was to create an interesting leg design. This has not been applied in person yet, but the main design could work as a back piece or an arm piece (in a smaller scale).

Yes, I really am alive!

Yes my little blog has been a little too quiet these past months. Hopefully I shall get back into a semi-regular posting. To say my own life has been anything but quiet would be an understatement but now as the winter season approaches and some things have settled down I find myself returning to my henna and my art. Life carries on and I re-enter my studio with a smile in my heart...

Do you do weddings?

I get this question frequently since there is such a strong association of henna and weddings. I have not yet had the opportunity to henna a bride but I did have the chance to henna one of the best ladies for a friend's wedding recently. We both had a fun visit and I'm happy to say her henna stained beautifully.

Henna designs at the conference

Here are a few designs that I created for people at the conference. Getting used to another person's paste and cones is always a bit of a challenge and I don't think I did so well personally. I can see why some artists chose to bring their own paste. Ah well, it just means I need to buckle down and practice more. But then, for me this is still fun so I am perfectly ok with that!

North East Henna Gathering, 2011

I spent the past weekend in Providence meeting various artists at the henna conference.

The conference overall was well put together with some great presentations on a variety of henna related topics. The role and style of henna in various cultures around the world was my main reason for attending. Of that there were several presenters. Nic of Nomad Heart Henna gave an overview of a variety of the less well known styles from around the world including the Sudan, the Gulf states, Tunisia and Mauritania among others. Noam Sienna presented on his work researching the henna traditions of Jewish cultures in North Africa, Asia and the middle east. Many of those traditions have been lost sadly but there are some who are attempting to revive / reinterpret them for the present day. Neeta of Mehndi Designer gave some practical insight into the construction and elements of Indian bridal henna, along with work pages for students to practice with. One of the top presenters was Gina Rite from New Zealand, who is using mehndi as a means to bridge cultures and as a tool for the youth of her community to embrace their own culture.

There were also presentations in gilding, face painting and the realities of working in a festival environment. It looks like face painting is becoming more popular with henna artists although they all admit it is a different mind set from applying henna. I know I would enjoy face painting but the thought of adding yet more supplies and tools to my already heaping stack is a bit daunting at present. We shall see if I decide to try that road later on.

Naturally, since there were two presentation rooms, there were other presentations that I would have loved to take part in. There were also some great crafting ideas that would be a lot of fun to explore - should I have the time to at some point. That's what it all comes down to, isn't it? How much time do we have to explore the paths that fascinate and sing to us?

And here is the stain...

As promised, here is the stain from my design of the other week. Posting was delayed due to my brief holiday (more on that later) but no matter. The nice thing about the top of the arm / hand is that the skin is fairly even so you get a similar stain all across. The skin on the fingers is naturally a bit thicker so the stains there get darker.

Good food, lovely music, fun atmosphere - what's not to love?

Last week I had the good fortune to fill in for another artist for the local Yelp Elite gathering. It was a very enjoyable evening at Mango Shiva, a lovely restaurant in downtown Calgary. We sampled some tasty new dishes while enjoying the live music - and if I can find the names of the musicians I will post them for you. I thought they were fabulous!

My table was right next to the kitchen (and the ovens where they bake the naan bread) slightly away from the main crowd which was meant no one was being jostled - including me. I happily found a steady stream of ladies looking for henna and the designs flowed well. I always love it when a customer is sincerely happy with their designs. I even spotted a couple nice reviews on the Yelp site.

Naturally I neglected to bring a camera, not that I had much time for snapping pictures but you can see a few shots of my work here...

Some evening relaxation...

Ahhh... Sometimes it seems like it takes forever for me to get around to applying any henna on myself. Then again, as I took the design to the far side of my arm, getting over my own lack of flexibility may play a role in that. This little piece was a fun improvised design from the other night. This picture was taken while the paste was still on. I will endeavor to post another picture showing the actual stain in the next day or two.

Something new...

This is my first attempt at a large tribal style piece. Ok, I will amend that - this is my first tribal piece ever! I paired up with another artist, she henna'ed the lady while I did this piece for her partner. We pulled our source images from the web since we are both new at this kind of design.

We had fairly short notice to put this all together which meant little time to practice! I had spent a few hours going over how the design was put together, and I made some adjustments here and there. But beyond that we opted to use transfer paper to lay out the design on the clients. Despite using the thinnest tracing paper I have there are still some issues with laying a flat design on the human body (after all, we are not flat). I have to wonder how tattoo artists do this and if there is some trick to the trade that would reduce the smudging. I guess I shall just have to ask around. Of course I could experiment on myself so long as I don't plan on showing any skin any time soon...

The appointment was a lot of fun and the clients were clearly enjoying themselves. This picture was taken with the paste on and getting rather flakey so it is not as clear as I would like. I am hoping the clients send us pictures of the developed stain as I am super curious to see how it turns out!

You can now find me on Facebook!

Yes I have started a Facebook page for Classy Cat Henna! Like this blog, it will probably take a bit of time to build up some momentum and I'm alright with that. I will be posting any upcoming events and announcements there and whatever else I happen to think of. See you there!

Is there such a thing as too many pattern books?

My answer to that is there are only too many when you are not finding inspiration in them and using them. Having said that, I was more than a little surprised to realize just how many I have collected over the past few years. Most of them are in e-book format and the idea of printing them all out is rather daunting - not to mention a massive use of paper. So I have set myself a task to go through each and every book and pull out my absolute favorite designs. These will then be incorporated into my pattern book that I take to events and appointments. I figure if I can get through 5 to 6 books a week I should have them all done before the Lilac Festival at the end of May (yes, I really have that many). This should give a wide selection of styles to choose from and I'm curious to see what designs people respond to. And of course, in addition to this I have some designs of my own to include as well. It looks like I will be rather busy!

A snapshot of the past year...

As the title implies, I thought I would put together a small collage of images from last year's events. Small, because I am notoriously bad at remembering to take pictures of my work! Most of these are from the renfest of which I have spoken before.

Winter is still firmly entrenched in my little corner of the world, however the warmer seasons are approaching so I have been taking stock and brushing off the cones (so to speak) in preparation. It is always fun to look back and remember what I did and what designs people loved. Part of the joy in mehndi lies in making that connection with the people I adorn and in their own joy when they are happy with the design they get to wear for the next while. Another aspect to why I love henna is the joy of tackling new designs and images, of meeting the challenge of a new request.

So as the weather warms it will be time to look forward, time to use these images as a springboard to challenge myself with designs both new and familiar. I can hardly wait!