One of the first "chapter books" I ever read was Stephen King's It.  It's one of my favorite stories of all time and I was absolutely thrilled to have completed this fan art shoot.

Like every other shoot, I have my own reasons for wanting to do this one and what its meaning truly is.  I'll leave its interpretation up to you, though.

This shoot presented a lot of challenges, admittedly.  I had gotten a picture in my head of a crazy girl in an asylum rubbing dead rats all over her dirty nightgown and spinning around like she was Cinderella - hence, how this Fractured Fairytales series was born.  As I progressed through the shoot it suddenly dawned on me that I really had no idea how the hell I was going to convey the concept without having to explain it.  I finally came up with layering in her imaginary world fading away as she interacts with her real world.  I love the colors, I love Miss Payton's expression, I love everything about this shoot and I can't wait for the next set.

Model: Payton

Background Stock: DarkMysty Stock

During a trip I had taken to Montreal, QC in the summer of 2015 I stopped at the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery there and was completely blown away at the beauty of it.  Large statues, crypts, beautiful trees and gardens...I could go on about it for days (and have to all my family and friends, I promise.)

I called my beautiful little model Edyn and asked if she'd be interested in being in the series and thankfully she agreed.  Her mother put her in a beautiful dress and helped me get the poses I needed her in.

I adore this set; it's definitely among the ones I'm most proud of and I'm grateful for Edyn's help in making them.

Model: Edyn

When Anna came to me with this idea, I was instantly excited.  Medusa was never a concept I had thought of before, but I loved the thought of it. 

We painted Anna's entire upper half with white body paint and used gold pigment and fishnet to create the scales peeking through her skin.  Using stock of white pythons, I went to work piecing them all together and then threw some textures in behind her.

I love the way it turned out!

One might think I'll eventually run out of horrible scenes to put poor, defenseless Farrah in, but they'd be wrong.

Matt (the man behind the genius crow monster costume in Leave A Light On) was the perfect patriarch for this scene and the always stunning Ashley and Payton fleshed out my little posh family with interesting tastes.

I of course laughed through the entire shoot so it's safe to say I'm a big fan.

My new friend Matt and Ashley, Farrah and I all went down to a local dog park I had shot Unwanted in with Payton earlier in the month.  

Matt has this amazing crow/birdman monster costume that I absolutely adore and definitely wanted to use it in this concept.

I've debated on whether or not I would put my explanation of the concept up here because as I've noticed in the comments on the pictures on my Facebook page, people are seeing something different than what I may have intended - which is amazing and awesome and more than I could hope for.  Others seeing a meaning that may or may not be what I meant to show is one of the best parts of creating.  A different perspective is never a bad thing, so I appreciate those who have commented with theirs and I'll happily keep my initial intent to myself.

That all said, I love this set and I'm thankful Matt and Farrah put up with me that day.

I found a beautiful white dress at a second hand store and was dying to use it.  Thankfully Payton fit into it, and we went down to a local park to take these.

What had originally been scheduled as a morning shoot with Ashley turned into a shooting marathon with her and the girls.  

We learned it doesn't take much to turn bathwater red, and that finger painting is infinitely funnier when you're doing it with blood.

Raina and Lauri are now officially my two favourite witches.  I was lucky to work with them to create a Halloween shoot and I absolutely love this series.

My beautiful friend and model and mother of two of my favorite little models, Ashley, belongs to a family that loves creepy things just as much as we do.  Her mother ran a huge haunted house on her acreage outside the city and when I heard she had a working guillotine, well.  Of course we had to use it.  

I am very lucky and thankful to be able to work with people who hear things that come out of my mouth and agree it's a good idea to shoot them.

Models: Ashley

With every shoot this one stuns me.  

There's a metaphor for vanity in here somewhere.

Model: Katt

A Facebook message out of nowhere asking Anna if she was up for making a dress out of blood somehow translated into millions of views and probably the craziest three weeks of our lives.  

I'm not sure what else to say about it that hasn't been said over and over again, but I will say that even if this is the greatest piece I ever put out, I'm happy and I'm thankful I was able to do a bunch of cool things I wouldn't have been able to otherwise.

Model: Anna