Artist: Milly Rose Fantastic Faces

@fantasticfaceshull

Model: Sue Davies

@sue.eira.davies

Photo: INIT Creative Studios Brendan Storch

@init_creative

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Theme:

A tale of abandoned love captured in the frozen tableau of winter, where the Snow Queen and Jack Frost embody the beauty and sorrow of lost passion. This body painting transforms human figures into living canvases, symbolizing the frostbitten emotions and icy landscapes of a love gone cold. The artwork intertwines elements of fantasy, nature, and emotional depth to tell a visual story of heartbreak amidst the eternal winter.

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Concept Overview:

The piece unfolds through two characters:

1. The Snow Queen

   • Palette: Pale whites, shimmering silvers, icy blues And greens.

   • Design Features: Crystal-like textures covering her body, mimicking frost on glass; her skin glimmers with a pearlescent sheen. Snowflake patterns stretch across her limbs, delicate and cold. Her chest holds a fractured ice heart, glowing faintly with blue light, symbolizing her broken love.

   • Mood: Regal but sorrowful. Her face is painted with subtle tear tracks of silver, representing her grief frozen in time.

2. Jack Frost

   • Palette: Frosted blues, deep blues, and splashes of frozen whites.

   • Design Features: His skin is textured with jagged frost patterns, like rime clinging to a darkened windowpane. His hands are painted to look as if they are fading into snow, symbolizing his disappearance from her life. His torso features icy cracks and veins leading to his chest, showing a heart frozen solid.

   • Mood: Tormented and distant. He gazes into the distance, detached and fading.

 

Storyline: The Tale of Frostbitten Love

The artwork draws inspiration from a mythical tale:

Once, the Snow Queen and Jack Frost shared a love as radiant and pure as freshly fallen snow. Together, they ruled over winter's beauty, painting the world in frost and sculpting snowflakes to dance in the wind. But as the years passed, their hearts grew cold and distant, like a winter that stretches too long. Jack, feeling stifled by the endless frost, abandoned their kingdom, leaving the Snow Queen alone to rule the frozen land.

Heartbroken, she cursed the forest that had once been their sanctuary. It became a frostbitten wasteland, forever reflecting her sorrow and longing. Each tree and icy branch became a monument to their love—beautiful yet desolate.

Body Painting Symbolism

The two painted figures, when viewed together, evoke an emotional landscape:

• The Snow Queen’s Side: Snow-laden branches curl around her arms and shoulders, forming a forest dress, hinting at her dominion over the frozen forest. Her gown-like lower half fades into snowdrifts and cracked ice, symbolizing her unyielding grief.

• Jack Frost’s Side: Frost creeps across his body, his figure blending into the backdrop as if he is vanishing into the icy wind. He is the embodiment of love lost to time, cold and unreachable.

• Combined Symbolism: When standing together, their body art forms a unified scene—a frozen forest caught in perpetual winter. However, they are positioned apart, with a gaping, frost-covered chasm between them.

 

Backdrop and Staging

• Props: Snow-dusted headdress forest pines and staff 

Artistic Techniques

1. Hand-Painting: To create intricate snowflake patterns and frost textures.

2. Sponging: using stencils and blocking out colours and blending to enhance the realism of the frozen elements.

3. Metallic Highlights: To add depth and shimmer, creating the illusion of glistening ice under light.

 

Interpretation:

This body painting represents the emotional toll of lost love. The Snow Queen and Jack Frost are not merely characters; they are metaphors for the way heartbreak can freeze someone in time, leaving them longing for what once was. The frostbitten forest mirrors their desolation, a reminder of beauty overshadowed by sorrow.