I have been adorning women with henna nearly 15 years now, and I feel so grateful to have had this opportunity as an Artist, to find my medium and express it. I actually learned how to henna during my 3 year stay in Hawaii. I bought a kit, read the instructions, and never took a henna class.
My journey as a henna artist has been a unique one. I found the medium of henna in 2003, and then met the people that would become my family in 2004. My experience of henna & family are so intertwined. I created many rituals to bond us together and henna often marked all of us. I love how dark it can get on the palms. The skin is so thick there, it can really absorb a lot of henna's natural dye. This photo is of my palm & Laurel's.
Natural henna goes through many color changes. It comes out of my applicator a dark green / brown and dries dark brown. Very light applications of henna dry orange. Henna paste should sit on the skin for several hours before it is rubbed off & oiled (with edible oil). Sara was just 1 day away from her due date when I hennaed her belly with a kind of floral zendoodle.
The night before I adorned Sara, I had covered myself in henna in celebration of Mother's Day. I had taken off my henna that morning to reveal this beautiful shade of bright orange.
I have had the incredible blessing of being Momma to three beautiful daughters & Nana to our twin grandsons - and I love to recognize my blessing with henna each year. Our oldest daughter, Aleah, lives with her family in Alaska and we were so happy to have her & her twins over for the holidays this past winter. Of course, I had to give her henna when she was pregnant! She gave birth shortly afterwards - the photo from 2015 shows the boys at 3 days old. The photo from 2018 was from the holiday visit... I'm so grateful for family! Rob took this photo, but really, he should be in it too.
On Mother's Day I was part of several Mother-daughter celebrations & other festivities, and my husband caught me on camera here. I love the way henna looks on my skin, it's the perfect color tattoo.
A few days later we did some Mother Daughter photos of our own, and I wanted to share this one of Laurel and I. In May she graduated from Boulder High School and this fall she will live in the dorms at CU. We are so proud of her and excited for the next chapter of her journey. Our youngest daughter still has 3 more years of high school, and these last few years feel precious.
Sara didn't come back for more photos while her henna was peaking in color, instead, she was busy giving birth. I am so grateful for this photos she sent me of her newborn laying on her hennaed belly. It feels like a wonderful blessing to give birth adorned with henna. What a cutie!
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