Session Recap: A Survivor's Story

“I used to feel like a scarred Barbie Doll.” - Laura White

I first met Laura a few years ago on a dive trip in Belize. We spent seven days on a liveaboard dive boat, enjoying the beautiful oceans around Belize several times a day, an hour at a time. In between dives, we hung out and talked, had snacks or meals, and got to know each other. You can't help it when you are literally living on a fairly small boat for a week!

The trip came to a close, and while we stayed in touch for a while, we eventually drifted. Last year Laura registered to participate in my Fabulous Fifties portrait campaign celebrating women at age 50 and beyond, and I was excited to bring her on board!

When you reconnect with someone after a few years have passed, it can really surprise you to hear the challenges they have faced!

The first step in a custom portrait session is always a phone call. This is a chance for the potential client and I to learn about each other, for them to tell me all about their dream portrait session. What motivates them to want a portrait now? Who else is important in their lives, and would they like to be included? What kind of art do you want to create?

When Laura and I got the catching up small talk out of the way, she told me one of her biggest motivators was her fight against breast cancer. I truly had no idea she had gone through such a challenge. When someone tells me their personal stories, I soak it in, the only objective being to listen more than speaking, and to understand deeply what the client is trying to convey.

It became very clear that Laura struggled with her definition of beauty and femininity as she moved through the process of beating breast cancer. This disease takes so much away from women, and I could hear in her words how much this had affected her. She told me about the surgeries she had to endure and how dramatically they had changed her body. When she was at the point that she could decide not to have any further surgeries, she described herself as a "Scarred Barbie Doll".

While her husband still saw her as the amazing woman she truly is, she still didn't feel like herself.

She opted for one final reconstruction to regain her sense of completeness. This is where her story really started to form as an idea for an incredible portrait. I continued to listen as she described her transformation from Scarred Barbie into something entirely different. Her new icon became Sally from "A Nightmare Before Christmas".

Yes, blue skinned, big eyed, rag doll Sally. What resonated with Laura was that while Sally routinely came apart, at the seams and otherwise, she always stitched herself up and came back stronger than ever. There's always a point in a very personal story that I start to get all the feels, and this was THAT point in my conversation with Laura.

Now I understood her "why" behind her portrait session, and I knew exactly what I wanted to create for her. I wanted her to have the full beauty portrait experience, with hair and makeup artistry, and a full in home styling and design consultation. We talked about where in her home she might want to enjoy portrait art, and chose all her outfits. She also had a fitting at Rebecca's Runway here in Keller, TX for this stunning black sequin evening gown. And she sure did wear it well!

We did her full beauty portrait session, and then the final shots were set up to produce the base image for her Breast Cancer Survivor Dreamweaver Portrait. When Laura described herself as Sally, I asked her how far she would be willing to let me take a concept based on her words. She was open to whatever ideas I had, so I pitched the idea of literally creating a portrait where she was transformed into a version of Sally. She loved the idea and was all in!

We didn't use any special effects makeup for this interpretation of Sally. Laura was photographed wearing the makeup that was applied for the portraits you see above. The entire transformation into this final personal art piece was done by hand with digital tools in Photoshop. From the exaggerated features to the blue skin and all those scars and stitches, every modification was carefully and intentionally created stroke by stroke, without the use of filters, automation or AI.

The piece is titled "Surviving Her Nightmare: An Homage to Sally"

If you would like to start the process to create your own storytelling portrait, I would love to hear from you! A Dreamweaver Portrait is a powerful way to honor a personal journey or to live out a wild and crazy dream! Even if you just have the tiniest seed of an idea, give me a call and tell me about it. We'll elaborate on the idea together until we have enough pieces to start building, and then I'll do the rest! 

Visit Dreameaver Portraits for more information.