Ghoulish Cacophony Of "Reverb-Pop Gems"

Last night was day one of music video shoot for Denver-based band Gauntlet Hair. I love this description of their music: "cacophonous, ramshackle reverb-pop gems." Also, this seems to sum it up nicely too: "[Like] Animal Collective...Gaunlet Hair [is] primarily dealing with pop songs set off by a slightly off-kilter feeling." Thusly, the performances by Kara Jean Caldwell and Joshua Bote were pretty off kilter in a violent, destructive, ghoul kind of way. I got them prepped for their mayhem-causing roles with dark demonic eyes on ghastly white faces: the better to ravage the South-East industrial blocks my dear. Below, song we're shooting for. BTW, Gauntlet Hair will be in

Portland November 10th at the Bunk Bar.



Isaac Hers, Content & NYC

  It's fashion season people. After such a long (yeah right) summer in the NW, most of us are just dying to get back inside and open our umbrellas. No really, it is exciting to be getting into fall and chatting about the cool shit we've all been up to this summer and what we have planned for the new year. (L'shanah tova!) For those who've been needing their fix of pomp and flash lately, there's been plenty to chose from on the local fashion front. As always there's a lot going on in the big wide world of fashion, and here in our cozy West Coast haven we've actually been experiencing quite a lot of flutter lately. With Portland Fashion Week wrapping up tonight, Content last weekend and a great Isaac Hers show at First Thursday, it's apparent the creative juices are flowin' in Stumptown.

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I heard only wonderful things about Content this year, with each designer present creating a mood installation in one room each of the Ace Hotel, and guests able to mosey through the deconstructed fashion show at their leisure. For those of you who were there, correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like a series of mood-board-turned-rooms (I was in New York City at the time exploring my moods in all sorts of rooms) including Portland designers Sara Bergamn, Isaac Hers, Pattern People and Idom, as well L.A.-based Dawn Sharp and Brooklyn-based Andy Lifschutz.

A standout show I did get to go was the Isaac Hers show this Thursday (First Thursday in the Pearl District just turned 25 too! bffs) produced by the Jillian Rabe team. I loved the raw wood runway, the nicely paced flow, the catering...not to mention of course the beautifully crafted clothes and the done-undone hair and makeup. The Con El Sol Spring 2012 looks showed Thursday by Isaac Hers designer Barbara Seipp featured structured cutout dresses, sleek skinny jeans, the classic gorgeous gold-rush jacket and various takes of beautifully subtle-but-open fabric. Nothing terribly new on a fashion world-wide wide level, but here that is not what designers seem to be doing. Portland designers will leave the drastic new shapes and drama to the Parisians, the New Yorkers, the Milanese. It seems we'd rather push boundaries with sustainable techniques and beautifully crafted ideas, which the Isaac Her's collection embodied perfectly. 

 

And production wise? Flawless. The Jillian Rabe production team had it down to perfect detail, while still making the whole night feel relaxed and flowing. There is so much to look forward to.
Excited for more from all these talented Portland peeps.

Tying The Knot In Beautiful Threads

Here are some shots from a recent trip to Sarah Seven's beautiful studio (not for me, mind you) to check out wedding dresses for an out of town friend. The thing I love about Sarah Seven dresses are that they are so well constructed while still being relaxed and airy. Plus Sarah is just so cool. It's my favorite thing in the world to see Portland creative talent rightfully making big names for themselves, which Sarah has done just beautifully with her wedding dresses and now ready to wear cocktail frocks. I'm definitely in the wedding mood, having just come back from a knockout Montana wedding (pictures of our beautiful bride to come), plus a best friend's wedding in Nor Cal in a few weeks. I've done (and will be doing) the makeup for so many special brides this summer. As far as I'm concerned, stunning makeup a bride feels comfortable in is one of the most important pieces of the day--next to a beautiful dress, well-fed guests and the groom, of course.

Gift Of Summer

Some first shots from our photoshoot for Sahlia Jewelry, shot by Ben Pigao, model Kara Jean Cadwell makeup and hair by me and styling bySahlia and me. "Gift of Summer" was written by my grandma Anita. Happy beautiful sunny day!

Gift of Summer

We pluck pale gold figs,

pleasure for a sultan,

their rich sweet fleshiness

as succulent as honeyed flowers.

A few are visted by birds

who sample the globed fruit

in the upper reaches.

As the season progresses

ants take over the fermenting

pendant orbs, and drunk with delight

forget their programmed work ways

in their model community on ground.

We creatures all yearn for a time

of fruit gathering.

Our concerns meet and crisscross

as we pluck gold figs,

pleasure for a sultan,

as succulent as honeyed flowers.

-Anita Hamm

The Big Rock

Maybe about a month back we grabbed some jewels from Sahlia, pulled together looks out of the back of Hannah's trunk and headed to the hills (the West Hills that is). Despite the beautiful blue sky and lush green forest, we managed to find some nice gray to shoot against. Shot by Ben Pigao and assisted by Samuel Alemayhu, model Hannah Gale and makeup and hair by me.

Bright Lights, Biggish City

Here are some behind the scenes from Monday evening shoot with photog Liam Gillies and the gorgeous Danish model Malene Søndergaard Jensen. Love her look (plus she lives in Eugene and does pre-fair at OCF, so I loved her double) and I had a great time rocking her hair and dramatic makeup.

(Oh and I got a new iPhone, so I've been going photo app crazy :)

Moody Summer

The sunny day posts can wait a little longer, thanks to the current out-of-season moody Portland weather. Instead, we'll get into some inspiration for a shoot later today, sent to me by photographer Liam Gillies.

To See The Summer Sky Is Poetry

It's the fourth and my sister is home from Chicago and we're bbq-ing at my sissy/bro-in-law's and it's sunny and it's summer! What a joy! Yesterday I went kayaking, this morning swimming and who knows what later. Heaven! Before I run out the door back into the sunshine, here's a behind-the-scenes from our shoot last week for Sahlia's new jewels. Ben has more on his blog. Our beautiful model Kara was awesome! Enjoy the sun and stay super safe.

The Unending Waterfalls Of Change

Another incredible weekend of transformation. We aren't here to stay the same, that much I know. Here's another one from our recent shoot with Hannah and another poem by Mary Oliver.

Vultures

Like large dark

lazy

butterflies they sweep over

the glades looking

for death,

to eat it,

to make it vanish,

to make of it the miracle:

resurrection. No one

knows how many

they are who daily

minister so to the grassy

miles, no one

counts how many bodies

they discover

and descend to, demonstrating

each time the earth's

appetite, the unending

waterfalls of change.

No one,

moreover,

wants to ponder it,

how it will be

to feel the blood cool,

shapeliness dissolve.

Locked into

the blaze of our own bodies

we watch them

wheeling and drifting, we

honor them and we

loathe them,

however wise the doctrine,

however magnificent the cycles,

however ultimately sweet

the huddle of death to fuel

those powerful wings.

-Mary Oliver

Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day?

A weekend of playing in the woods is sometimes all I need feel balanced again. For a weekend, we live in a world so playful and full of possibility, our outside fears diminish and we leave with clarity. Today is, of course, the Summer Solstice and the first day of the sun in the sign of Cancer (my sign). The brightest and longest day of the year before we slowly start unwinding and spreading out into the light we've built up. It is lovely to read some of Emily Dickinson's more mystical poetry--to catch her in moments of awe and wonder of the pure beauty and apart from her humanly skepticism.

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Above shot is by Ben Pigao with model Hannah Gale and styling and makeup by me. Feather earrings are Sahlia Jewelry and clothes are model's own. More from this lovely summery shoot to come.

122

A something in a summer’s Day
As slow her flambeaux burn away
Which solemnizes me.

A something in a summer’s noon —
A depth — an Azure — a perfume —
Transcending ecstasy.

And still within a summer’s night
A something so transporting bright
I clap my hands to see —
Then veil my too inspecting face
Lets such a subtle — shimmering grace
Flutter too far for me —
The wizard fingers never rest —
The purple brook within the breast
Still chafes it narrow bed —

Still rears the East her amber Flag —
Guides still the sun along the Crag
His Caravan of Red —

So looking on — the night — the morn
Conclude the wonder gay —
And I meet, coming thro’ the dews
Another summer’s Day!

-Emily Dickinson

A Most Elegant Book Of Nonsense

I was flipping through my copy of The Best Poems of the English Language (edited by Harold Bloom) trying to find an appropriate poem to go along with this dreamy series (also shot by Daniel Ellis at the Oregon Lavender Farm) when I came upon a classic childhood favorite, a bright bloom of a poem in the heavy landscape of work by the likes of William Blake and William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth and Edgar Allan Poe. Here, an untortured poem with odd characters and wonderfully light, nonsense pro se. The Owl and the Pussy-Cat from A Book of Nonsense by the dear Edward Lear. Here we have models Kara Jean Caldwell and Jillian Rabe, styled by Samantha Lemieux and makeup by Abibat Durosimi. Now, time for me to join the amazingly peculiar characters in my life for a weekend of frolicking in the forest on the Oregon Coast to celebrate the coming Summer Solstice.

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea

    In a beautiful pea-green boat,

They took some honey, and plenty of money,

    Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,

    And sang to a small guitar,

"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,

    What a beautiful Pussy you are,

         You are,

         You are!

What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!

    How charmingly sweet you sing!

O let us be married! too long we have tarried:

    But what shall we do for a ring?"

They sailed away, for a year and a day,

    To the land where the Bong-tree grows

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood

    With a ring at the end of his nose,

         His nose,

         His nose.

With a ring at the end of his nose.

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling

    Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."

So they took it away, and were married next day

    By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,

    Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,

    They danced by the light of the moon,

         The moon,

         The moon,

They danced by the light of the moon.

-Edward Lear

   

Mad Girls' Love Song

Yum. I love the dark mood and styling. Here are two Portland models on top of their game: Kate Troedsson and Jillian Rabe. Also shot by Daniel Ellis out at the Oregon Lavender Farm, styled by Elena Grace Crowson and Jillian Rae Jewel with makeup by Abibat Durosimi. Like the thunderbird, we are back in spring with a fresh chance at life. Sylvia Plath begs us to be careful who we love.

 Let's start by loving ourselves, madly.

Mad Girl's Love Song

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;

I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you'd return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think made you up inside my head.)

-Sylvia Plath

Spring Is When Everything Turns To Music

 

The talented gals from the Art Institute fashion program invited me out to their shoot at the Oregon Lavender Farm to help with makeup. In these pics models Sydney Babcock and Kate Troedsson are shot by Daniel Ellis styling by Jillian Rae Jewel and Samantha Lemieux and makeup by me. Jillian and Samantha wanted coral-peachy-pink eyes, lips and cheeks. I loved doing such sweet girly makeup. There's something nice about just pretty sometimes. And there's just something about spring...makes everything seem more light and hopeful. The farm is out toward Mt. Hood, so there we were out in this lush fragrant landscape with a huge beautiful mystical mountain as backdrop. With all this rain and gray this spring and last, I think it's quite necessary to soak up every last speck of vitamin D and roll around in as many lavender fields as possible.

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On the topic of Mary Oliver, a couple lines from her that my friend Ryan sent me last night: "You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves." Indeed.

The Path To Heaven Doesn't Lie Down In Flat Miles

Shot by Daniel Ellis, makeup by me, styled by Samantha Lemieux and model Sydney Babcock.

Poem by Mary Oliver.

The Swan

Across the wide waters

    something comes

         floating--a slim

             and delicate

ship, filled

    with white flowers--

        and it moves

            on its miraculous muscles

as though time didn't exist,

    as though bringing such gifts

         to the dry shore

             was a happiness

almost beyond bearing.

    And now it turns its dark eyes,

         it rearranges

             the clouds of its wings,

it trails

    an elaborate webbed foot,

         the color of charcoal.

             Soon it will be here.

Oh, what shall I do

    when that poppy-colored beak

         rests in my hand?

              Said Mrs. Blake of the poet:

I miss my husband's company--

    he is so often

         in paradise.

              Of course! the path to heaven

doesn't lie down in flat miles.

    It's in the imagination

         with which you perceive

              this world,

and the gestures

    with which you honor it.

          Oh, what will I do, what will I say, when those

                       white wings

                   touch the shore?

-Mary Oliver

Goodbye Is Never Easy...No Wonder You Just Left

Loss

When the sun
falls behind the sumac
thicket the
wild
yellow daisies
in diffuse evening shade
lose their
rigorous attention
and
half-wild with loss
turn
any way the wind does
and lift their
petals up
to float
off their stems
and go

-A.R. Ammons