There is so much I can say about my mentor, amazing artist, friend and all round wonderful human, Rae Morris, but I’ll try and keep it brief.
Four times Australian makeup artist of the year, Rae Morris is also a best selling author, has designed her own brush range and is known around the world as one of the most influential makeup artists. I met Rae in 2003 when she presented me with my award for Hair and Makeup Artist of the Year. A qualified hairdresser, her story is so amazing with the chances she took along the way that have helped get her to where she is now with an enviable career.
I worked with Rae at LMFF (Loreal Melbourne Fashion Festival) for 4 years and on occasions when she was in Melbourne for commercial and fashion editorial projects. Rae has worked on every top model and celebrity you can think of including Pink, Kelly Rowland, The Minogues, Miranda Kerr – I could be here all day! She has vast knowledge of working with hair and makeup as well as models and has always been generous with that knowledge hence why she wrote the books so everyone would have access to the tricks of the trade. Makeup has a way of making you feel great about yourself. Detracting from the things you don’t like about yourself and enhancing the things you do. It can be very empowering to be working in someones personal space, getting to know them – people tend to tell you details they normally wouldn’t share with others like a therapist – and making them feel really good about themselves. It can be an extension of your personality or outfit or a mask to hide behind, either way it is a brilliant tool for self expression, enhancement and camouflage.
https://raemorris.com/portfolio/
Being a makeup artist really honed my skills as an artist and working with Rae was the catalyst. Her skill as an artist and her approach to everything is such an inspiration to me. She never loses her cool even on long days and taught me so much that can really only be learned on the job! Learning how to think in your feet, nothings a mistake, it’s only makeup, you can pretty much use any product for anything haha! I learned the contours of the face, body, blending, colour matching, light and shade, colour contrasts – and I’m still learning – though aren’t we all? These skills gave me the confidence to start painting. Something I’d always wanted to do but never felt ready! When I was drawing in my teens and twenties I never felt good enough but after 12 years of hair and makeup I was ready to throw caution to the wind and start painting faces on canvas.
Rae’s lessons, her eye and how to do beautiful skin is what I use in my paintings today. I crop and recolour photos as references for my work. All the years of practicing on live models as my canvas was a blessing and has really made me the artist I am today.
I too have been lucky enough to work with many celebrities including Miranda Kerr, Jennifer Hawkins and Margot Robbie to name a few. I hope one day I get the opportunity to paint some well known faces on canvas and tell their stories. It would be a dream to be shortlisted in The Archibald!
Creation! 