An artist in the black bath

Once upon a time (like so many times before) Nastya and I were coming up with an idea for photo shoot.

Once again the idea sparked within seconds, I guess that's how this lady makes my brain work- I just looked at one of her drawings and was like... We gotta put you in a bath with black water, spread some glitter and have you soak in it. In you full jewelry ammo.

Nastya is an artist. She is professional fashion illustrator/designer and every time we get together- we proceed with the craziest ideas we both have. We try to catch up for all the months we haven't seen each other because she lives in Moscow, Russia, therefore there is no such thing as "no" when we get creative.

I can't tell you how many times this girl have frozen her fingers/toes while shooting in hard core Russian winter forest, how many times she woke up early after sleepless night of work to go to the studio with me and how many times she understood and trusted my intention and idea without the full explanation. Should I mention how much I appreciate her? :)

While preparing for this shoot I learned, that ink stains the bathtub, gouache stains the skin and watercolor is not enough to make the water look thick and non-transparent.

Likely I was able to find one of the lush bath bombs called " The world smallest disco". This turned the water black and didn't stain much (we did need to scrape the bath a little bit afterwards but not as bad as if we have used ink). I wasn't able to find the same one in the US, however I know that lush has a great alternative like this one.

I edited this session with LXC presets by Tribe Archipelago.

Of course, I made some tweaks and worked on it in photoshop after. What I found after playing with the galaxy clipart is that... There is always a place for some stardust :D

If I could describe Nastya by just a few words - I would say it's a walking example of how to be a rock star without holding a guitar. I don't know how but she combines the confidence of a witch at the Walpurgis Night, tenderness and cheer of a Pippi Longstocking and that tremendous talent that will leave you speechless when you see her art.