Ode to Orion

I have this photo framed on my wall. :) ♥

Today is my very dear friend and "Artner" (artistic business partner)'s 31st birthday! :D You go, you Sagittarius, you.

He's such an amazing guy all around, both as an artist and a friend. His artistic skill is insane (check out his Facebook page here!), in all art mediums, from traditional art, to sculpting, to prosthetics. He can bring just about any concept to life; the gears are always turning in his head for some elaborate new project, and he's always more than willing to collaborate with my crazy ideas, no matter how out there, with zero hesitation.

As a friend, I can't say enough good things. He's the most honorable person I know, extremely loyal, extremely generous, and extremely selfless. He always puts others first, and he goes out of his way to help others without asking anything in return. I know he's got my back no matter what, he's shown me a million kindnesses, including this summer when he and his sweet wife, Amy (as well as their adorable son and currently baking daughter) opened their home up to me and my fiance for two weeks when he was up visiting from Oklahoma. Orion is such a goof too, so incredibly fun to be around, whenever we're together, there's always laughter and joy. :) However, he's also been there for me through some seriously low points in my life, acting as a confidant and providing emotional support, and he's always stuck to my side no matter how emotional or bitchy I became. I am honoured to be his friend. ♥

I've selected my top 13 images from this year's collaborations, sorted by photoshoot.

Our Barbie Parody, "Media's Marionette", was very special and incredibly elaborate, both in concept and execution. You can read the blog post about the symbolism behind it here, and the behind the scenes/what went into the photoshoot here.

Orion did all the prosthetic work from scratch, the skin pulling up from my wrists and the hooks holding me to the ceiling. He did an absolutely phenomenal job! The prosthetics were the star of this photoshoot and really drove the message home, it wouldn't have been the same without them.

Next we had a short trial run for a photoshoot concept I've been wanting to try for awhile, with the original character concept of "The Bleeding Swan". This was a test shoot, not a full photoshoot, but we still got some neat shots. It's a theme that will be re-visited some day!

Then there's the unicorn photoshoot. This means something personally to me, but it doesn't have a blog entry about it. Long story short, I have always been compared to a mythical creature, typically a unicorn, for my physical features, specifically my weight (which is a touchy area for me). This photoshoot is kind of a tongue in cheek parody about those who only see the outside and think I'm some majestic creature for the physical traits I possess and dwell on them. You think I'm a unicorn? Well, here you go! Here's a literal interpretation.

This was also my first time being totally body painted head to toe. I give props to Orion, because with his Visual Snow Disorder (you can read about that here, spreading the word about this obscure but life altering issue is greatly appreciated), the colour white is very hard on his eyes. So what do I go and do? Request to be painted entirely white. :P And he didn't hesitate for a second, such a good sport. He's awesome at powering through any challenges life throws his way, no matter how hard life tries to get him down, he comes out victorious.

The last one is also a body paint, but in a brand new environment: underwater! Orion spent around two hours airbrushing me with gradients of blue, then adding darker scale patterns with a fishnet stocking. It was too cool! As always I'm blown away by his artistic skill, but also his patience. The airbrush gun he was using decided that it wanted to be a butthead and keep clogging, which made the painting process twice as long as it should have been. But he made it work!

Then of course there's the actual underwater shooting! We tried both my new yellow underwater camera (which we primarily used) and Amy's Canon camera in an underwater bag . Oh, and he was shooting blindly and STILL managed to get such awesome shots underwater! The photoshoot was great and it was all around a fantastic day.