Thursday, February 28, 2013

Announcing...

The flier for my first runway show as a designer and hair artist has been released, and I'm so excited about it. Doesn't it look awesome?

If you happen to be in the Columbus area on April 1st, come out and see the show. It's pretty much going to be the greatest thing ever.

Happy Thursday!

Monday, February 25, 2013

Synthetic Rebellion.




Have you ever held an interest in something that you eventually gave up on, be it because of difficulty or because you just too caught up in something else? That was me and my hair art company, Synthetic Rebellion, which hit it's prime two years ago and then quickly faded into the background of things I did on a regular basis. My specialty was creating 2 to 3 foot hair sculptures of inanimate objects or abstract designs that were made entirely of synthetic hair. I'd made wigs that looked like birds, giant Geisha swans, birthday cakes (that lit up) , growing botanical gardens, and pirate ships too, and it garnered a lot of attention. Channel 4 News did a segment on it, and magazines were publishing images of my pieces left and right at a speed I could hardly keep up with.



Eventually though, I just gave up on all of it. I had lost all of my motivation and creative spirit to do as much as I'd been doing before. Every now and then I'd get to do an elaborate styling on a model that would come into the studio, but in general, my wig making faded into the background of life. Instead of Synthetic Rebellion getting publications for hair art, it was getting put into publications for general pinup styling, or high concept design work, which was equally as rewarding.



Lately though, I've missed it. I've missed the challenges and the lessons learned from figuring out everything for yourself, as I am completely and utterly self-taught. I started yearning for the chance to get back into sculpting, pushing myself to create more gravity defying designs that just didn't seem possible to ever accomplish.



As luck would have it, I was recently approached to do a show as a designer (both with wardrobe and in hair artistry), and I lept at the chance to get back into wig making. Right now, I have 8 pieces that I'll be creating, ranging from wigs that move, to wigs with doors and floor plans. It'll be an outrageous adventure, and I couldn't be more excited about it. I'm even more excited to share with you the images of my progress, and images from the show. I hope you like it! The show will take place on April 1st here in Columbus, so that's just a little over a month to get everything done! Wish me luck

 =]


All images in this post are property of Laura Dark Photography. All wigs were made by Synthetic Rebellion.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Broken Hallelujah.


Last weekend I had the incredible experience of working with the very talented Ellie Lane, of Ellie Lane Imagery. I have become heavily inspired by Ellie's overall artistic vision and originality, which is so perfectly demonstrated in her self portrait series. Finally getting to shoot with her was an incredible experience, as she pushed my boundaries and expression, and gave me a boost of self-confidence I didn't know I needed. I've posted just a sample of our shoot, but you can see more on her website. Hope you have a good weekend! 

Thursday, February 21, 2013

A Self-Portrait.

Lately I've been feeling disconnected from who I am as an artist, and from all of the things that I've tried to do creatively over the last few months. Be it with photographs or paintings, sketches or seamstressing, I have never felt further away from my creative flare.

After thinking about it for a while, I realized that a lot of that came down to two things. One was that I'd been focusing all of my effort on seeing other people's visions through, and I was suppressing a lot of self expression for the sake of someone else's ideas. The second was that I'd (in turn) been relying on other people to help me see my visions through, be it the photographer who takes my image, or the designer who sews my dress, or the camera man who makes my videos.
I haven't relied solely on myself in so long that doing so made me terrified. I'd lost all confidence and all security that I was capable of completing a project on my own, without the help of other people.

After dwelling on this for weeks, I finally snapped. I raced home from work yesterday, threw on some clothes, blush, and a wig, and darted into the woods before the sun fell. Armed with nothing but a tripod, an iPhone, and a shutter application, I was able to complete my first ever artistic self-portrait. I am rather proud of the outcome, and even more proud of the freeing feeling they give me whenever I look at them.

Sometimes you just need a reminder that you CAN in fact do something.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

DFTBA



Lately I have immersed myself in Nerdfighter culture, which is spawned from an online community created by author John Green and his brother Hank Green. Their mission is to both entertain and put an end to Worldsuck. Their catchphrase, Don't Forget to be Awesome, promotes the idea that we should never forget how great and awesome we are as individuals, and how capable we are of ending 'Worldsuck' by way of our awesome attitudes. I took some time to think about this idea, and decided that not only did I agree, but that I wanted to be a part of it, too.

I decided to take the focus off of myself and make a greater effort towards making other people feel awesome instead. Doing this has been a fantastic method for dealing with any bad days, bad moods, or bad people that happen to pop up every now and then. My idea was to start small, beginning with complimenting strangers that I happen to pass ('I love your sweater!' 'Your hair is gorgeous!'), and then texting or calling people I care about to tell them all about how great I think they are. I even went so far as to have dinner long distance with an old friend over the phone, just to cheer them up a little. It made me feel like one million dollars.

Pretty soon I started reaching out to people I'd never met who do things that I find really admirable. I printed out the addresses to all of the fire stations in Columbus and slowly began the process of writing each one (34 in total!) a personalized letter thanking them all for their service, dedication, and bravery. Towards the very end I felt so great about what I was doing that I extended the letter writing to include the Emergency Centers in Columbus, and a few cancer facilities, too.




A few days later while still feeling fantastic about my mission, I decided to reach out to people who were going through personal hardships that might need some help.  I tried to focus on a way to de-clutter my apartment and help someone else at the same time, doing something that was mutually beneficial. I went through my old clothes and took out anything that I didn't wear on a regular basis (I'm talking like at least once in a two week period), and separated them into three piles. One pile was to go to the local homeless shelter, one was to go to Dress for Success, and anything that wasn't in fantastic condition was put in a third pile to go to the Goodwill.




I made sure to also go through old boxes and storage bags and got rid of shoes I no longer wear, blankets I no longer use, and winter items (such as beanies and scarves) that I had too many of. It was a very cathartic process, and in the end I had enough space in my closet to do some intense reorganizing. Total win! After a few emails to my co-workers, and a Facebook post or two, I had a total of 7 huge bags worth of donations to deliver. I felt great, and the people who helped me out felt great, too. It was fantastic!

I heavily encourage anyone who isn't feeling their best to channel that into doing something great for another person. Not only does it put your life into perspective almost immediately, but it also makes you feel so very, very good about yourself and your life.

This is how I DFTBA. How do you?

Thursday, February 14, 2013

D + B


I was newly promoted at work this week (yay!), so updating regularly has been a bit difficult for me. That will change as soon as training is done next week (thank god!). But for now, I thought I'd share a few images and a brief story of Dan and I to celebrate Valentine's Day =]


Dan and I met in late February of last year at a comedy show in which we were put into teams to win a scavenger hunt. His wingman and I were put together, and with a lot of help from the bassist of the band we had come very close to winning the competition (like, by a sliver). I left the venue shortly thereafter, and didn't have any expectation of hearing from Dan ever again. But! Low and behold a Facebook message was waiting for me just a few days later.

He had quickly invited me to see Mutemath perform at the Newport, and for some reason it had completely escaped both of us that it was obviously a date. It wasn't until 10 hours of uninterrupted conversation later that we realized that were in fact on one (whoops!). It was then that our relationship had started to develop, and now, after a year of figuring things out, it's grown into this magical thing that neither of us ever expected to find.

I can honestly say that I've never had anyone in my life that has inspired or empowered me as much as Dan has. He has pushed me to be healthier, more creative, and happier than I've been in a very long time, and I've been able to achieve things I never thought possible.  It's the first time in my life too that I've felt like I was part of a team, and not a caretaker or a one person cheerleader to someone that I love. It's an incredible thing to be equals, to compliment each other's strengths and weaknesses, where there's unconditional love and respect for the other. Despite doubts, or life's ups and downs, it's been clear that we were meant to happen. And you know, I'm really glad for everything that has happened over the last year, because it's led me to one of the best relationships that I've ever been in.


With that being said, every day I get a little more excited about our future, and where it's taking us. It's a rare thing for me to be this happy about the prospect of one day living with someone, or traveling the world with someone, or taking any big step with someone, as I'm usually the one doing all of the work to get there. It's exhausting! Luckily, Dan and I have figured out how to meet half way and share the amount of effort we put in, be it with working on ourselves, or on a project, or working on our relationship. And that's literally all I've ever wanted. Now that I finally have that it's like my entire life is nothing but this bright shiny happiness. Luck, I tell ya!


Anyway, thanks for allowing me to share our story, and the images that were taken when we first started dating. I have a really hard time not bursting at the seams just to share all of our relationship with the world all of the time, so I'm glad to have a good excuse to do it now! I'm very lucky to love and be loved so completely, to the point where I have an overwhelming love for everyone else in my life now, too. I hope that whether you're in a relationship, or you're single, or you're in something complicated, that you realize how much you are loved by others (myself included!). And not just loved by a significant other, but from your friends, your family, and maybe even the blog community too.  Love is all around. Love is everywhere.

Happy Valentine's Day.


Love, Dan and Bri.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Favorite Television Couples.

Everyone is absolutely buzzing with Valentine's Day ideas and stories, and I'm trying SO HARD to not spill the beans on my own. So for right now, I'm going to post a series of my favorite television, book, and movie couples until I can be trusted to keep my mouth shut =] Enjoy!



Turk and Carla, Scrubs.



Willow and Oz, Bufy the Vampire Slayer.



Amy and Rory, Doctor Who


Dean and Rory, Gilmore Girls



Shae and Tyrion, Game of Thrones



Khal Drogo and Daenerys, Game of Thrones

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Favorite Non-Romantic Television Couples


Sean and Gus, Psych


Troy and Abed, Community


The Doctor and Donna Noble, Dr. Who.


Sherlock and John Watson, Sherlock Holmes.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Life, According to my iPhone.

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Life has been really sweet lately, full of small dinners, intimate get-togethers with friends, and quality time with Dan and Tuesday. Every day feels like this fantastic miniature blessing, and each one is more lovely than the last.

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On that note, my relationship with Dan seems to grow by the second, tightening into this incredible hope of a future. Our little moments together are some of the best I have ever known, and the idea of how many more we have yet to experience makes me so excited. You know? He's such a big part of my world these days.

Okay, enough mush. Here's a brief glimpse into my life lately, according to my iPhone....

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Dan recently joined a men's soccer league (he's been playing on a co-ed league forever), and I've been trying to make as many games as I can. It's such a treat getting to watch him play!
^^^^
So many creative meetings with so many creative people lately. It's lovely!
Besides all of that, my rampant cleaning and reading, I've been busy getting things together for my next phase in life. I have my volunteer organizations, my work promotion, my new roommate, and new furnishings for my apartment. I also have costuming, new stage routines, and upcoming trips and vacations that I've been looking forward to for months. All of these things have been filling my head with anticipation, and I couldn't be more excited. Life is beautiful!



Happy Monday!

Friday, February 1, 2013

The Blog Phenomenon.





I first started blogging in 2003 through a site called LiveJournal, where I held several accounts there that I updated regularly. All of them were wildly personal, usually private to friends only, and were true to the journal format. I kept my account current until a few years ago, when I started putting more of my daily events and thoughts onto Facebook posts instead. It was there that I merged my professional life with my personal, and started writing entries for the public view instead of catering to close friends with my more intimate thoughts or moments.

Since then, I have tried to keep my public posts as positive and cutely personal as possible, staying away from aggressive venting or aggressive language whenever possible. Sometimes I would slip up and Facebook would see a glimpse of my more immature moments, but eventually, those became more and more rare. Since my modeling, styling, and performer personality were what got me jobs, I stuck with putting on the most professional face I could manage, and gave people just enough personal information to feel like they knew me. Even with this mentality, Facebook was still a negative environment at times, as everything was subject to another body of people with argumentative or judgemental demeanor's with a whole lot to say. Facebook had quickly become more of a soapbox and less of a way to keep people connected to each other, or to express positive ideas.

Enter other social media outlets. After a little research (and okay, a few failed attempts at Blogspot), I decided to start a new blog dedicated to positive things. I noticed that the entire blog community was this wonderful group of (seemingly) happy individuals who acted like personal cheerleaders to one another. Friendships formed between writer and reader, between writers themselves, and between real life friends who are also bloggers. Within just a few weeks I had started my own connections with various other bloggers, who are also wildly positive and cheerful, and had nothing but nice things to say in response to posts. It was simply amazing.

Personally, I think that this is why so many people start and write a blog. There's nothing else like it, no other place where you are universally supported and cheered on, regardless of if it's over a paint project, a book review, or over photos of a pet. It's a great example of getting back what you put in, as every sweet comment gets a sweet comment back, and anything negative gets removed or ignored. And for the most part, we all make it a point to be as nice as possible to one another, something that is sorely lacking in any really other online forum.

So, if you've been thinking about starting some sort of online journal, be it a blog, or a vlog, or a LJ, I encourage you to do it! Take that plunge! If you're looking for inspiration, or an idea for a blog, I've listed a few here that I love and read every single day. I hope that checking them out sparks some sort of idea for you, or that at the very least, you find a new voice online that you can connect with.

Now, without further adieu, I introduce to you....

Shout-out Friday!

-Love Taza: Naomi (Taza) is the sole reason I started blogging. I seriously love every bit of her life.

-Oh Joy!: The writer of my favorite blog book, and a great blogger all around.

-A Beautiful Mess: An all-time favorite of mine.

-Ending Up Here: My new enigmatic BlogSister, who inspires me regularly to be as happy as possible.

-Charlie Cecile: A great new blogger, Charlie has a fantastic eye for images.

-Jessi!: My lovely friend (and book fiend), Jessi, just started her blog yesterday. I'm very proud and excited for her!

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Ps- If you're starting up a new blog, or are relatively new to the community, I want to hear from you! Comment with a link back to your site and I'll be sure to check it out!