Tuesday, Henna Day!!

Today I got the chance to spend time in Rochester with a bunch of my favorite peeps--my lovely henna girlz!

We filled up a van this morning (many thanks to our fearless driver, Amy, and our priceless navigator, Beth!) and headed down the highway to Rochester where our hosts (many thanks to Jazibe and her sister!) had reserved a beautiful party room for henna playtime.  As we are wont to do, we shared a delicious and nutritious potluck grazing buffet which we visit freely in between doing henna designs.  Some of us brought our wee ones, and some of us brought our yarn (though the yarn didn't see a lot of action this afternoon methinks), and there were design books, henna cones, alcohol bottles, lemon sugar sprays, cotton pads, face paints, brushes, cameras, and above all, CHOCOLATE!  From Switzerland no less, mmmm.

During six hours together, we chatted about a wide variety of things, personal and general, and got to know one another better.  We created beautiful designs on each other, planned future dates and activities, made a mess and cleaned it up again.  It was good for the soul.  I love my henna dearies!  Maybe some time you will join the crew, eh dear reader?

Here are a few pictures from today's meetup:

My work on Amy, Have fun in Cancun!

Her daughter applying her first ever henna to our lovely hostess

My work on Jazibe, angle 1

My work on Jazibe, angle 2

Two of the adorable wee ones present, making their own fun

Victoria Welch's gorgeous design on me

My work on Tasia

Thanks to henna...

Tonight I went to the movies with dear friends whom I met, thanks to henna.  I am very thankful that henna came into my life.

In henna, I found an art form I fell in love with and couldn't stop learning about and experimenting with and ultimately making a career out of.  Only with henna did I finally feel comfortable claiming the title, Artist, though I've been drawing and painting in many mediums, throwing pots, sculpting, taking photos and practicing many other art forms since I could walk and talk all the way through primary and secondary education and beyond.

And because of henna, I became part of a community that nourishes me in many ways, and has gifted me with dear friends I am blessed to know.  If you had told me even 3 years ago that I would be a working artist part of a community of artists with awesome new friends and in my niche with an art form I'm passionate about and privileged to share with people of a variety of ages and cultures, I would have thought it only a happy dream.

My dream come true in so many ways, I'm thankful for henna.

Learning Mehndi

I am learning the art of mehndi, applying henna paste to the hands and feet to stain the skin to achieve a temporary "tattoo". This is done traditionally as part of the wedding preparation in some cultures. A friend I made through SILC apparently has faith in my artistic ability, because he asked me to do mehndi at a summer festival before I had even begun to learn the art, and asked me again for several other festival occasions, and has now given my name to a young woman seeking an artist for bridal mehndi!! Now, I love the opportunities and the art itself, and I am pursuing excellence in henna work. But I am a beginner. I think I will stick to less dense, more open patterns as much as possible. Last night when I couldn't sleep, I took my last leftover cone of henna and tried to approximate from insomnia glazed memory a gorgeous design I saw here: DarcitaNanda's Henna It's not a close approximation, and I used the hand a couple times before the paste was dry so squished it in a few places... It's nowhere near as fine as the beautiful original. But a record of my first attempt :).