The Adventure of Nicky Watts

Crystal Bowersox in Jazzy

2010-02-19T01:07:00.001-08:00

Isn't she so pretty?

Photographer: Nicky Watts
Musician: Crystal Bowersox
Chicago, IL
2007

Crystal Bowersox and her Blanket

2010-02-18T21:22:00.001-08:00

Photographer: Nicky Watts
Musician: Crystal Bowersox
Chicago, IL
2008

Crystal Bowersox and Frank May

2010-02-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

Photographer: Nicky Watts
Musicians: Crystal Bowersox and Frank May
Location: Oak Harbor, Ohio
Nov. 2009

Its really sort of a photo idea because I would like to recreate it again some day. I have an image in my head and this got down the idea, but didn't complete the image. This was on a whim and the next one will have a bit more production put into it.

Harddrives

2010-02-11T12:26:00.000-08:00

I have been organizing my hard drives the last two days and will be posting some old work that I've found over the next week or so. Its really exciting to be looking at old working and seeing how much Nicky Watts Studios has accomplished over the last 5 years. Stay tuned for photos!

New Direction for The Adventures of Nicky Watts!

2009-07-01T01:52:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited. There will be a change in this blog. It will still revolve around my art experiences and business experiences, but Wear Recycle has been taken out of it so that it can focus more on the ways that the business works and what not.

I might critique some stuff, teach some stuff, describe situations, and document my non Wear Recycle shoots. Possibilities are endless!

My mission right now is to learn how to cold call. Well obviously not right now, but tomorrow.

Good night.

Useful Links for photography, art, fashion, and more

2009-06-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

Fashion Resources

www.fashionista.com
www.style.com

Photography Related

www.fashionphotographyblog.com
www.art-dept.com
www.mfilomeno.com
www.cradocfotosoftware.com
www.apug.org
www.w25mag.com
www.artpartner.com
www.artandcommerce.com
www.adbase.com
www.nppa.org

Art Related

www.americanart.si.edu
www.artheals.org
www.artistay.com
www.lvartscommission.com
www.art-interview.com
www.greendragonladyvintage.wordpress.com
www.a2-2a.blogspot.com
www.mastersoftoday.com
www.asmp.org

Portfolio Related

www.paperhaus.com
www.alphaomegadigital.com

Travel Resources

www.cdc.gov
www.mdtravelhealth.com
www.manila.usembassy.gov

Modeling/Talent Related

www.beverlyhecht.com
www.modelscouts.com

Business Resources

http://nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/cdb/cdbcalc.cfm
www.google.com/analytics
www.score.org

Wear Recycle Final Description, update

2009-06-23T01:45:00.000-07:00

OK. I had allowed myself to get distracted the last couple months, but in the last two weeks I have regained momentum.

I have refocused and cut out all the distractions that were getting in my way! Last week I started asking for money for Wear Recycle. My mission: $70,000 in three months. Then another $80,000 three months after that. Exhausting yes, but I know what the mission of Wear Recycle is now. Here's the description, it will explain a lot.

Description

Wear Recycle is a series of international art exhibits that utilize recycled paper as a medium to explore the interconnectedness of relationships. Through constructing sculptures with recycled paper that are photographed in a style that mirrors fashion photography, Wear Recycle brings celebrity, art and everyday people together to encourage responsible reuse of wasteful material.

Each sculpture begins with a cast of a participant’s body part and is later adjoined with a sculpture built of recycled paper. The process of casting crosses intimate physical boundaries and thus allows for organic communication to exist between Watts and her selected participants.

Watts independently builds each sculpture and connects sculpture with participant for the purpose of a photo shoot. In each country a local make up artist and hair stylist is hired in order to create a secondary opportunity to observe the development of human communication through extended work relationships.

Wear Recycle consists of six exhibits. Five of the exhibits will be in five different countries and include approximately twenty photographs printed on recycled paper and the associated sculpted work encased in custom plexi-glass cases. The final exhibition will showcase work from each of the previous shows and will coincide with the publication of a multi-lingual book showcasing the art and describing Watts’ experiences with her participants, teams, and the art itself.

The countries and the dates of their exhibitions are:
• United States: January 2010
• Brazil: November 2010
• Philippines: Aug 2011
• India: May 2012
• Italy: February 2013
• Closing Exhibition and book publication: February 2014

Watts is currently seeking sponsorship. Attached is a breakdown of how you can benefit from your sponsorship, as well as what finances are needed to successfully complete Wear Recycle. Contact Watts at 702-416-6558 for more information.

This and the whole sponsorship letter took me a very long time to create, but it just went in for its second print phase today. I'm really excited!

I have received the first sponsor of $2000 from Kristina Arias. Once her logo is in hand I will make a post about her, but I have to reconnect with her. She is amazing, let me just tell you! Well, I don't want to spoil it all before her post, but she really is a warm spirit. Her website is www.AriasAdvantage.com.

More happy news, Nicky Watts Studios' new website is very close to completion and the first page will go right to Wear Recycle! Exciting I know.

OK. Its 1:54 in the morning and I'm exhausted, I promise to update more often. Thanks for reading.

Nicky

PS here are some photos I took yesterday:

They came out awesome!

Pharoah Najm: Wear Recycle Pirate

2009-04-16T16:00:00.000-07:00

Val, Sam and I were trying to come up with new ways to work together because we felt that we were working in a disconnected fashion and it was obvious with the outcome of the shoots. The best way for each of us to be able to push our creativity but to still flow together was to start building themes for the shoots.

We decided to re-shoot Pharoah because the disconnect really affected the shoot we did we him prior. His sculpture seemed to have developed a pirate theme on its own, but when Pharoah wore it the stereo-type look of a pirate just seemed to fuse together. When Pharoah told me that he had dreaded his hair, I knew it was meant to be.

So here are the photos from Pharoah's shoot: our first of many themed shoots.

I think this one should be a Captain Morgans advertisement

Photographer: Nicky Watts
Sculptor: Nicky Watts
Model: Pharoah Kajm
Hair: Valarie Zwahlen
Make Up: Samantha Henrikson
Location: The Village Pub, Las Vegas
Sunset and Eastern Location
Stylist: Nicky Watts
Leather Jacket: Juicy Couture $850.00
Striped Dress Shirt: Louis Vuitton $450.00
Knickers: Elie Tahari $248.00
Leather Bracelet: Juicy Couture $55.00
Silver Band Bracelet: Elie Tahari $298.00
Man Bag: Cultural Design made in
Ixtahuacan, Guatemala

Brittani Rael: Rain

2009-04-14T19:09:00.000-07:00

This shoot was a last minute shoot. I don't mean it was exactly last minute, it was suppose to be a re-shoot for Wear Recycle, but due to some difficulties Sam and I decided to shoot it as a themed editorial series we are working on based off weather.

It was last minute to make these changes. Sam and I literally had a day and a half to figure out how to make it look like it was raining in Nevada, and to style it and everything. The photos came out great! Everyone did an awesome job and Brittani was a trooper even though it was really early in the morning and she was getting wet outside. Brittani provided the dress which helped to make the over feel of the photos seem like they are in either Spain or something similar.

Here are three of the photos. I'm not actually going to upload the photo that is going to be in the series so that it is not published before submission. You'll have to come back to see the series as a whole once it is approved for W25 magazine.

Photographer: Nicky Watts
Model: Brittani Rael
Make Up Artist: Samantha Henrickson

The Water Color Society

2009-04-14T18:53:00.000-07:00

Here is Henderson there are a few different organizations for artists. The Water Color Society is one of them. They have a number of really talented artists within the organization and they are active members with the communities surrounding Las Vegas.

I was lucky enough to be invited to do some portraits of them. It was similar to the Mary Kay event I did a few months back, accept with all artists. Karen Bindner from Mary Kay was there doing her make overs, Samantha Henrickson (the Make Up artist for Wear Recycle) was helping with the paper work, directing everyone, and taking the money at the end, and Rich Castro did a wonderful job assisting the young ladies in choosing which photos they wanted.

Everyone did a fantastic job. I was more then prepared! There were station labels and a print out directing people which station to go to at what time. There were folders for each person, and name tags ready. It really went well. The only thing that could be changed in the future were the contracts. They really need to be simplified and one page instead of a separate page for each topic. Poor Sam had some crunchy reaction from them, but she handled it very well.

Here are most of the photos. A few were left out by request, but they were just as good I assure you.

Well there they are. Aren't they beautiful? Artists always are.

There website is: www.watercolorsociety.com

Many of them are also in the Henderson Art Association which is found at: hendersonartassociation.blogspot.com

Thanks fr a great time everyone.

Kristen Satterwhite and Shea

2009-04-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

Last week I was very busy shooting and am now getting ahead of myself in editing.

On Tuesday the 7th I photographed Kristen Hertzenberg Satterwhite with her daughter Shea. I'll be honest with you, I could have done a lot better job.

My photo forte is very controlled settings and not only did we shoot outside, I forgot my soft boxes and had to make due with what I could manage when we shot inside. I was extremely disappointing with myself because I have been really good about being over pre-pared with my shoots for the last year, but I wasn't this day.

There is a positive that cam out of this lack of preparation; I came up with an idea to have about 10 different equipment/job lists that are laminated so I can mark what I will need with each job, mark that it has been packed, mark that it has been repacked after the shoot, and mark when it has been replaced in its correct position in the studio. This is going to be very helpful, especially when I have 5 shoots in one week like last week.

Either way, here are the picks from that shoot. One of them will be in a magazine for Kristen and I'll upload that when it comes out.

See what I mean? They're not bad, they're just not the quality I like to expect from myself. I asked Dana (Kristen's husband) if they minded if I re-shot sometime in the future, just for us, no rush with the mag. I'm excited about fixing what went wrong.

Easter Bonnet 2009

2009-04-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

I shot the Second Annual Easter Bonnet event last Sunday. Fantastic is an understatement. The yearly event is to raise money for St. Therese Center for AIDS.

Thanks to Kristen Hertzenberg Satterwhite, who invited me to photograph for her extremely informative blog called Broadway Vegas, I was able to shoot the behind the scenes as well as the show. Two wonderful men who's names have unfortunately passed me, helped me to get settled when I first arrived during the rehearsal. Thanks to them I was granted my very own platform where I was able to set up my tripod and shoot the entire event in the middle and back of the room, but above the audience. I felt like a queen with a third eye.

When I first began shooting all the performers getting ready I must admit that it made me miss Chicago and Mass a lot. The energy and vitality of everyone reminded me of all the people I have been fortunate enough to meet along my path. The behind the scenes has always been, but since I moved here to Henderson I have experienced minimal amounts of active, vibrant, and youthful artists and performers. It was a wonderful feeling to know it exists here and I hope to surround myself with people who are active in making beautiful art and performance happen.

I especially enjoy as much flamboyance and weirdness as possible so I love love loved the Cirque team. There was a very familiar energy within that room that I fed off of. It reminded me of the Jimmy Johns Boys in Chicago: Lance, Mo, John, Chuckles, Russ, Darcy (we were the boys too so it still counts as boys), Izzy, Transmission Gallery and all the rest of the adventure. It made me want to be a part of what they were doing. Not to mention they were entertaining my camera so vividly; I had to hold in my laughter in order to get the shots. For those of you who know that I want the Cirque shows to get involved in my Recycle Paper Sculpture Project know I was going crazy with visual plans of how I will cast everyone together. It will be so much fun! My mind was going wild! Experiencing these specific performer's energy made me think its a little more possible then I thought before.

The Sopranos were there as well. They always crack me up because of my own ghetto mouthed upbringing from Massachusetts. Of course the accent and mannerisms they're replicating is different then Mass, but its more similar then the Chicago or here. Not to mention that when they really go on their f-bomb rampages and picking on one another during their show it sounds like the regular vocabulary that goes back and forth between my mom and sister.

It was great to finally hear Kristen sing; even though it wasn't Phantom and it only lasted a few seconds. Phantom will be one of the next shoes I see. The Phantom performance at Easter Bonnet was awesome. The costume for the performer wearing the bonnet was by far the hottest one. I loved their bonnet. The whole performance was bad ass in a nice neat package.

Well, I think I've finished my excited rant for now. There are endless possibilities for another revise, but we'll see. I hope you enjoy the photos.

That was before the show. Woh!

And that's it.

Art of Love won the competition, close call because there were 3 ties for 2nd place and 2 ties for runners up. Congrats to everyone.

Visit Broadway Vegas for more info on upcoming events: broadwayvegas.blogspot.com

Melange Jewelry Shoot 2

2009-03-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

When I shot Melange Jewelry's wonderful gems a few months back, Rachelle wasn't 100% satisfied with them, so of course I wanted to re-shoot to make sure that she receives something she feels great about. We didn't do all of them because she's going to test what looks best on her website: the photos from the last shoot or the new ones on black.

What do you think?

I like the black ones a lot. The reflection really creates a warmth depth to each of them.

And then here's another one that we both loved, but didn't fit with the rest because it was horizontal.

Melange Jewelry
www.dezinediva.com

And now that I see them on a black backdrop, i can see that they need a little more editing. Well, here's the point, they'll be replaced soon.

Bake Sale for Wear Recycle

2009-03-10T15:28:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I will be having a bake sale at Third Thursday to help pay for my Wear Recycle project.

You can find info on the project at nickywatts.blogspot.com. There is scattered info on it through out the blog, so feel free to look through past months for a thorough understanding of the project.

The money will go directly to:

-paying the hair and makeup artists who have been doing a great job on the photo shoots

-getting the 8X10 negatives printed on large pieces of recycled paper (this needs to be experimented with to see what will be most successful. Right now I'm looking at digital printing and liquid emulsion.)

-Plexi-glass boxes for the presentation of the sculptures

-and frames for the recycled paper 8x10 prints

Right now I am taking pre-orders for loaves of bread. For those of you who were at Sharon's studio for her 1 yr anniversary, you tried the carrot/zucchini bread (it was yummy).

It is $5 per loaf and the chooses are:

carrot and zucchini
carrot
zucchini
and banana

At the bake sale I will also have

Milk Chocolate Fudge with almonds (Great-Gramma Watts' recipe updated)

A Dark Chocolate with Cinnamon and Cumin (Great-Gramma Watts' recipe updated)

Peanut butter cookies (Great-Gramma Watts' recipe)

Toll House Squares (Great-Gramma Watts' stolen from old Toll house ;))

Rice Crispie Treats

Brownies (Great-Gramma Watts' recipe from scratch!)

There will also be the above breads available per slice. and Ann Petit from Suede Studios will be making some Vegas chooses.

I'm sure I will come up with more by then, but this is what is on the list so far. Just send me an email if you want to pre-order anything.

I can also take pre-orders for batter if you want to get a whole batch of something. I have been experimenting with freezing batter and so far every thing I've tested has turned out great. I haven't tested the bread batters though, so I wouldn't recommend me freezing you some of that because I can't be sure it will come out "Watts quality" ;).

The Make Up Artist has mentioned making some key lime pie too, so that just might be in the line up too. ;)

send any bake sale requests to

nicky@nickywatts.com
or give me a call: 702-416-6558

Brittany Peltier's Interior Design Portfolio

2009-02-23T22:43:00.000-08:00

What a relief!

So here's some background. Brittany Peltier is an interior design student at the International School of Interior Design here in the Vegas area. This girl is a hard worker. When she brought over her projects, she had piles of all really creative boards that you could tell she slaved over the details on. They're was three that werem't on board, they were on plexiglass, and a curtain designed into a board. Nothing was ordinary, and she knew exactly what she wanted to fix, change, develop, clean, and reconstruct.

Once editing started it was very clear that she expected top notch quality. Its nice to have a client who is willing to point out the awkward looking things that might of happened in editing, but also in their picture or art work. She piled on ideas for different ways she thought each photo would look its best.

Brittany and I have been using flickr to communicate needed changes in the editing, deciding what edits are more fitting, and picking and developing the layouts to use for the actual portfolio pieces. It was an asset last night while we both stayed up until 5am discussing changes in layouts.

Over all, we both did a great job. She was a doll to work with, and her work was really incredible. So here it is. Don't be fooled, this is prob about 70hrs worth of work between photographing the work, editing the photos and building the portfolio (not including the many many hours she put into it all).

Wow. Isn't this girl good? So if you need some interior design let me know and I'll pass along the info. She graduates this year.

Shoot #3 with Birttani Rael revised

2009-02-18T01:57:00.000-08:00

Since the ball was rolling I figured I 'd let it roll:

When I orginally edited these photos I hated them. They looked so fake. I was very depressed about them. So I have reedited. They're still not the best in the series, but at least they don't look completely fake anymore.

Now I'm exhausted and am going to bed. Good night.

Wear Recycle shoot #4

2009-02-17T21:26:00.000-08:00

So here they are, finally.

Much has happened since we shot these. I was out of town for 3 weeks (I was able to cast 10 casts while away) and I have had non stop editing for paying jobs every time my feet have been on the ground (this is very good).

Don't get me wrong, I have Brittany Peltier's portfolio to design and a few photos to make last minute adjustments on, but after about 5 days...or more now...of nonstop editing of interior decorating graphs, I thought it was appropiate to take a day off.

Today I focused on Wear Recycle. I rearranged my studio so that I can work on both sides of one of the work tables allowing me to have 8 casts set up to be built at once! This is great since I can only work on one at a time.

During 20 minute break increments the last few days, I have been jumping over to the building table to work on the casts. As of right now, one of them is finished, one of them might be but I need to leave it over night to dry before confirming that, another one is close but not there yet, and three more have had either the first or second layers added to them.

Today I worked my butt off editing these photos. They are not perfect, but they are where they are going to be for now. If anyone hasn't noticed yet, I am a person that likes to revise my photos. I'm like that with everything for the most part. The third shoot of Wear Recycle is in desperate need of a reedit. I did an awful job on Brittany's skin.

Well, here are the new ones.

Here's the team:

Photographer/Sculptor:
Nicky Watts
Model:
Malika Iskandarova
Pharoah Najm
Make Up Artist:
Samantha Henrikson
Hair Stylist:
Valarie Zwahlen
Assistant:
Ann Pettit

Hurray Hurray.. Moving forward one step at a time!

I also want to thank Ann Pettit of Suede Studios who was kind enough to help me make some paper a couple weeks ago. Yesterday, I brought the paper up from the garage where it was drying and it looks great. Its very thick and has spectacular texture.

I almost forgot to mention I was able to get tickets to Le Femme at the MGM for Saturday night. I was giving 4 of them..One for me, Rich, VAL, and SAM! Finally they get a little something for all there efforts. They are great and deserve every minute of it.

HAA and Wear Recycle

2009-02-16T18:11:00.000-08:00

This will be short because I have a whole lot of work to do.....but....

I am the new vice president to the HAA! YEAH. We should be doing some fun stuff in the near future.

I have been working on Wear Recycle sculptures during breaks from editing (I can only usually work on one for no more than 20 minutes before its too fragile to continue) and I am just about finished with three. This is exciting because the development of Wear Recycle has been fast, but to actually show progress has not. YEAH again!

I can't move on with developing Brittany Peltier's portfolio until I get a return email, so I am going to work on some edits from our last shoot right now. Its about time.

Thanks for following.

Mary Kay

2009-01-30T20:29:00.000-08:00

Mary Kay Cosmetics consultant Karen Bindner and a few of her fellow consultants hosted a Valentines Day photo shoot for their old and new clients.

Women came in bare (or close to), washed their faces off with the great Mary Kay skin cleaners, moisturized, applied their brand new face, and came over to me to get their photos taking.

This took place on Tuesday and I have just finished the photos.

This was a little confusing because they originally thought that they would be receiving every photo that I took, but I never give out unedited images. Its my principle. I made minor adjustments to the photos with Lightroom, then took them into photoshop and did very light editing to them. This is how I was able to give them such a discounted price, all shot with in 2 1/2 hours and barely any editing.

They came out great! These women truly are gorgeous and they made my job very easy. All and all it was a wonderful experience. Rich even helped and managed to keep his mouth shut. This was quite a step for him giving that he has problems trying to take over my shoots. He told me before the shoot that he wanted to prove to me that he could work with me with out being a dickhead. He achieved it. I would give him a grade of 87% if it were an assistance quiz. He still has room to improve, but has made great strides. For those of you who don't know, Rich is my life partner and also a great photographer. Him and I have very different styles of working and subject matter. Find his work at richcastro.blogspot.com.

Rich and Fermin, Rich's dad, helped me make a giant heart made out of crinkled newspaper inside trash bags. After I taped the bags together and formed it, I covered it with plaster gauze. Its almost the size of me. It was used as a decoration at the event. I'll be taking photos with it in the near future and will post them, but I don't want to ruin the surprise by posting images of the heart too early.

Here are the completed photos from the event.

They turned out really good. The makeup looks great consultants!

If you are in need of a make over or are looking for quality products contact Karen:

Karen Bindner: karen2bnatl@cox.net

If you want to have a Mary Kay party with before and after shots let me know. I don't photograph events, but this is more like glamor shots. Its a lot of fun.

Kris Turner

2009-01-19T20:22:00.001-08:00

I finished two jobs today. Thank goodness because the holidays prolonged the completion more than I would have liked.

A tip that I learned. Double the time the you expect to get work done around the holidays. Everyone's response times are delayed.

Kris Turner is an educator. She tutors children. In the short time that I have spent with her, I have recognized a spectacular glow that I have seen in few people. She truly is an individual.

Isn't she pretty?

Shirtz Logoz and Promoz

2009-01-19T16:10:00.000-08:00

There's this little print shop on Water Street called Shirtz Logoz and Promoz.

A couple months back they won a gift certificate of mine and we have been working together to get them images for a brochure that they will be making.

For those of you who are still learning the ins and outs of clientele, this was a case to learn from.

I had chosen what I had believed to be the best photos technically and showed them those photos to pick from. Darcy and Robert were insistent on seeing all of the photos that had been shot, even though they I believed them to be basically the same thing.

I uploaded the photos that I had considered bad and Darcy found a couple that had a shelf in the bottom right hand corner that she thought summed up the store interior more precisely. I hadn't noticed this detail because the image had many technical errors.

I then discussed the technical errors with Darcy and explained that in other photos this had been corrected. I asked if there was something in particular that she liked about this photo (at this point I did not know it was the shelf that she liked).

When we discussed the issue of the photo she explained that it was the shelf that drew her eye to that photo. She wanted it incorporate into a photo that was superior technically.

So indeed I did. Here is that particular photo.

Even though this communication caused the final product to take a little bit longer, the out come was worth it. This image now gives the feel of a larger, brighter store than the original photo exhibited, but it still has the hint of that shelf on the bottom right hand corner to allow a relationship between the real interior.

Communication is the number one asset a photographer or artist has when working with a client.

These are the other two photos they asked me to edit.

Go Check them out!

Shirtz Logoz and Promoz
www.lasvegaslogoz.com
11 S. Water St. Suite D
Henderson NV 89015
702-565-1522

I made shot of the week on Melissa Rodwell's blog!

2009-01-16T21:19:00.000-08:00

Melissa Rodwell is a photographer I have recently found that runs Fashion Photography Blog. Her work is incredible and the information she provides on her blog answers so many questions that beginning photographers have. Its a great resource.

She just started a shot of the week contest for her viewers to submit to.

I am proud to announce that I made the first ever shot of the week!

The photo that I had submitted was the first for Wear Recycle.

Photographer and sculptor: Nicky Watts
Location: Nicky Watts Studios, Las Vegas
Model: Zaya Kharkhuu
Make Up Artist: Samantha Henrikson
Hair Stylist: Valarie Zwahlen
Assistant: Jeannette Spradley

Thanks to Melissa for choosing my photo and also holding the contest.

Also thank you to the wonderful team that works with me on Wear Recycle. Without them this project would be a bust.

You can find the image and right up on:

http://fashionphotographyblog.com/2009/01/nicky-watts/

Melissa Rodwell's websites and blog are:

blog: fashionphotographyblog.com
Commercial website: www.melissarodwell.com
Art/exhibitions: www.melissarodwell.net

Hurray Hurray!

Here's the image that won:

Getting Plastered in Maui Hawaii

2009-01-16T20:37:00.000-08:00

I just returned from paradise last night and thank goodness its nice here in Vegas or else I might have reached a solid level of depression resulting from the departure of my new favorite place.

Hawaii proved to be nothing less than my vivid imagination predicted. Seeing my good friend Dan in his beach boy element added to the joy of the experience.

I want to thank Dan for both entertaining Rich and I while we vacationed, but for also helping me to advance Wear Recycle.

While in Maui I was able to cast 8 people! This included

Casted at the beach:

Dan Schultz's knee: elementary school art teacher and professional volley ball player for EVP

Grant Wistrom's hand in the sign of "Da Shocka": Stay at home dad

The top of Tom Thayer's foot: Sports Broadcaster for the Bears

Casted at Dan's house:

Sean Sultan's boxer brief view of his crotch: manager of Chrome Lotus in Lahaina

Sierra's hip: waitress at Moose McGillycuddy's restaurant in Lahaina

Jesse's neck and collar bones: body guard

The back of Melanie Van Duyn's neck: Office manager at Fed Ex

Lisa Joy's ankle heel and calf in a very awkward position: hair stylist in Canada
Lisa-Joy actually lives in Canada but was visiting Hawaii....so I nabbed her. ;)

Aside from this incredible work, our adventures were great. Rich and I actually hiked an 11 mile adventure through volcano Haleakala. This occurred on the night of the full moon. We started approximately 3:30pm and finished about 11pm. We had no flash lights, Rich's knees were giving out, and by the end I wanted to lay down and sleep on the jagged rocks, but we made it through! It was an amazing achievement that left me sore for days. The moon was incredible. We saw it peaking out of the mountain and watched it quickly expose itself to the quiet landscape.

We managed to hike 8 more miles in different parts of the island before we left; and Rich played 3 games of beach volleyball. We were in heaven.

You can see Rich's photos from the trip at flickr.com/photos/dickyc

Gaza Strip

2009-01-08T15:13:00.000-08:00

My heart breaks every time I see or hear a news story about Gaza Strip.

One who is not there can not quite understand why Israel has attacked Gaza or why the Hamas were sending Israel rocket fire. The only thing that I can understand is that many people who do not deserve it are being killed.

My heart and sorrow goes out to those people. Many people are being wronged right now. Many people's lives are being treated less than they should be.

I know writing this does nothing more but announce my opinion of the situation. I wish I could be a giant fire proof teddy bear and shield those people. They don't deserve it any more than we do.

They are every day people who are being killed and its not right.

The situation is just not right. It breaks my heart.

S-Corp

2009-01-07T11:45:00.000-08:00

Today I met with my corporate lawyer, Darci Poloni at Poloni and Associates.

I have hired Darci to file my S-Corp paper work for me. With this service comes trade mark licensing, State ID registration, S-Corp submission and paper work, but most importantly Darci has sat with me and walked me through every step.

Darci explained the Bi-Laws and what is expected of me legally each year. She even gave me this wonderful leather book organizer to place all my corporate papers. She explained that I need to have a meeting with my share holders each year and what needs to take place in this meeting. She explained the rights I have compared to the rights that my share holder has. I actually think I'm starting to understand this business stuff.

Now onto the next steps. Once the papers that were submitted today are processed, I'm a C-Corp. A C-corp is not appropiate for what I do because I'll be taxed twice. So I will need to send back some paper work that my other share holder signs and Darci will be submitting that all for a Tax ID number. Once the tax ID number goes through than I will be considered an S-Corp and I can apply for the business licensing. Once that is complete I start the banking process and become complete and legitimately separate than my company.

In a few hours I will also be meeting with my insurance agent and all my corporate insurance will be submitted. This includes corporate insurance for my equipment as well as liability so if anyone hurts themselves on location or during an event with me than that person can't sue me personally. I've have been waiting to have this for over a year now, but needed to wait due process.

This is all very exciting. Its only been about 6 years since I first worked under Nicky Watts Studios. Its like a dream come true to have it becoming a full blown business. There's still a lot of work to do, but its in the right direction. I just can't wait until I can focus most of my time on making and creating rather than all this paper work business.

You can find Darci at:

Poloni & Associates
780 Coronado Center Dr, Suite 110 J
Henderson, NV 89052
702-616-9240

I hope she can help you as much as she helped me.

HBRC

2009-01-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

Wow!

I am excited that today I turned in my work for the Henderson Business Resource Center. It was a job that I had a lot of anxiety over because the organization has been detrimental in my growth as a business owner and I wanted to give them my best work.

Rebecca with HBRC enjoyed the photos a lot. She is incredibly nice and encouraging and I felt both proud and a sense of relief giving her the cd of images.

Here are a few examples of the work I did. Its nothing terribly exciting compared to some of my other projects, but its a great strive in my development as a photographer.

Everything takes one step at a time. This is one more step!

Hawaii

2009-01-05T18:42:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah!

I am going to Hawaii on Friday to make some casts....and explore of course.

Dan Schultz is going to talk to the administration at his school to see if I can cast them.

I'm hoping to get a full large group. Maybe everyone who works at one restaurant or something. Or a really large family. I don't know, we'll see how it goes.

Its getting crazy. I have casted 16 people now, shot 5 and have almost finished 1 more sculpture. I am in desperate need of recycled paper to continue. There are about 25 people on the list of future castees.

This is all exciting. I wish I could just do this all the time and not have to focus on starting my business too. Oh well, soon the beginning paper work and developing systems will be all set up and I will be able to focus more on making.

I hope Tricia will move here to help too. That would be great. Lets all send Tricia some warm thoughts about moving here.

Wear Recycle in the newspaper

2009-01-04T20:22:00.000-08:00

Las Vegas Sun (Home news, Henderson) published the article front page!

Congrats everyone involved in the project.

If you are interested, here are the links to the newspaper story and the slide show:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/dec/30/reusing-arts-sake

www.lasvegassun.com/photos/galleries/2008/dec/30/reusing-arts-sake

Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEL_k_n5XCo

Go to the Las Vegas Sun's YouTube site and comment on the video....so they know how much we love it!

Thanks to everyone involved, this is wonderful, thanks.

Gay yellow pages

2008-12-23T23:04:00.000-08:00

I just put a half page add in the Vegas gay yellow pages so keep a look out. I think the new issue comes out in Feb or something like that. Its hot!

Wear Recycle in the news, Toni Thorburn, and what Wear Recycle is developing into.

2008-12-23T22:38:00.002-08:00

I was interviewed from a reporter: Becky Bosshart with the Home News of Henderson. It was a riot. I want to thank Toni Thorburn who really put her neck out on the line to help me. There was a videographer named Evelio Contreras from the newspaper and a photographer whose card I happen to either loose or not get.....coincidence....jk. I don't think I got it and she was very nice.

Toni is the owner of Aspen Communications: IT work. It was a riot to see her engulfed in messy art materials, surprised by the process, and completely confused on why she agreed to do it in the first place other than just to help me. It was a riot.

Looking back it also allowed me to understand the project and why it is moving into a totally different direction than I originally thought with the fashion idea. Toni identified it perfectly when she told Evelio that she wasn't attached to the cast. That she was only doing it to help me.

Wear Recycle is about the relationship and curiosity that brings people together. While the actual casting process is taking place, a spark, closeness and connection happens. Its not about fashion, its about art, but more in the end. Its really about community and risk. About connection and collaboration. Its about what all the contributors/models/artists bring to it. This is an art project, but its as much of an outreach to people as it is about art. The process is art, the drive is art, but the experience is human. That's why the name will be changing. Wear Recycle doesn't define its purpose, it only defines its beginning. Toni was what developed this understanding; this idea that the people who I'm casting don't necessarily know what the point is, but something told them to become involved.....often me....but really I only ask and the model chooses to be intrigued or not. Toni's sarcasm and wonderful bluntness allowed for me to thoroughly know where to go and what she means in the project.

The model doesn't understand the relationship between the paper and these relationships that are made. They're not suppose to because they are not working with it. The models are left out of the fragility and development of the sculpture. In both processes I'm building something that starts, continues, and ends fragile and in the end I will have to communicate this to the models, and the viewers.

Toni's company deals with business technology solutions. Just like Toni didn't hide her lack of connection and understanding in art, I will be honest, I really have no idea what IT people do other than its a complicate job.

I know some of her services are:

protective back ups
wireless networking
Web hosting

really you should give her a call to find out more information about how to utilize her services. Then you get to experience her very wonderful personality...always a plus when hiring someone for a service or product. The company is local too!

Aspen Communications
Toni Thorburn
aspenbts.com
toni@aspenbts.com

Lets show Toni some support....I know that most of us businesses can utilize her services. I just remembered that she had mentioned something about a new law that fines businesses if they send any credit card info over the web without correct encoding. She can prevent this fine from happening!

To get on with the newspaper. It will be published in the Home News newspaper the first week of Jan...that's the hope, and they will try to plan it so that the video interview will also be online at the same time.

Becky found me through the Henderson Art Association blog

hendersonartassociation.blogspot.com

This is a new thing that HAA is doing to help promote artistic community here in the Las Vegas area. Go check it out, if you have anything to share speak up.

Did I forget to mention that Becky, the reporter is going to let me cast her. The list of people who want to do it has grown a lot. There are now 23 people who still need to get casted, 10 sculptures that need to be built or finished, and 5 people who have been photographed. YEAH.

Some bad news is that the 8x10 darkroom I was using closed down so I'm having problems developing the film now. I am two shoots backed up. It will all come together, but if anyone knows any Vegas darkroom available, please let me know.

Thanks for reading :) I'll publish the newspaper article when its available. Hopefully the video too.

Nicky

Casting Malbec

2008-12-23T22:38:00.001-08:00

To move on.

Last weekend Rich, our old roommate Tim from Chicago, and I drove to LA where we attended a Christmas party with a band named Malbec. Malbec is great. They have wicked hip music and are so creative when it comes to their videos and photos. I photographed them before when I went to LA with Rich. You might have seen it, the photo where the 5 people are wrapped with netting.

This time the whole Malbec crew, excluding their manager let me cast them. It is huge because they are the first people that did not have their heads casted.

Nick's upper back/shoulders

Mark's whole back while he was bending down touching his toes

Sam's shoulder to her elbow but she had it extended back and inverting and flexing

Sid's shoulders but more in the front and separate

Pablos two forearm tops held in fists.

They came out great and I'm really excited both to have alternative body parts other than heads, and 5 people. That's the most so far in one shoot. Exciting!

I just want to mention that I wore a crazy hootchie tight bright red jump suit with a candy cane print belt to their Christmas party. It was treacherous. Certainly a good laugh. I never meant to really wear that thing...Rich wore a bright red button up shirt and and crayon green suit type jacket that was huge. It was so funny. We looked like awkward elves.

Check them out. They are really good and fun. Refreshing.

AIGA card, Ann Petit, and Graphics West

2008-12-23T22:37:00.000-08:00

Last time I wrote I talked about an AIGA card. Until today I had not scanned the card, but here it is:

I wanted to scan it instead of put the original file because I'm so excited about it and the paper grain proves to me its existence. So there it is. I know that's funny, but hey I'm kind of a little weird.

Here are people who helped make the AIGA card successful.

Ann Petit from Suede Studios designed the card.

I met Ann soon after moving to Vegas at a Henderson Chamber of Commerce event. She has become a great friend... but most importantly for the purposes here, she is an excellent graphic designer, creative director, and visual consultant with over 25 years experience.

She is incredible. Her and I sat for hours making this card. This is how our night went:
Nicky: lets do this and that
Ann: "ah how about this?"
Nicky: "WOW that's amazing, I would never had thought of that."

Over and over again for hours.

Then I went home to do some work and she spent more hours on it.

Ann came to my rescue to assist when last minute I didn't have an assistant. She's going to help make giant recycled paper (a pain in the butt process that makes this project go around). I want to send her a large big cuddly thanks, she def doesn't have the time to help with this project, but has squished me in when she can, and when she shouldn't have but I was desperate. Its all well appreciated.

Here might be a good place to add that she also let me experiment on her with the cast. She was the first person to let me do it to them, not even my boyfriend would let me! For good reason, I hadn't perfected my skill yet and ripped out quite a bit of her hair. She was a trooper though. I have planned for her to be the next model photographed, 1st business owner to be photographed...exciting! So if I ever get to the editing for the last shoot, soon after Ann's photos will be up. They're going to be awesome. Even her hair in intertwined in the project! That's dedication and great friendship ;)

I am hiring Ann to reconstruct everything visual for Nicky Watts Studios, including a new website, logo, business cards, a secret marketing idea that we developed, and more. I am so excited because she is in tuned with all that stuff that I could care less to think about. So far we have had a consultation. She's absolutely organized and really sat there with me until both of us understood what was getting done. This service is priceless when you are hiring someone for this sort of thing. I recommend you have her redo your business's public image and advertising. Its worth it.

Suede Studios
Ann Petit
www.suedestudio.com
ann@suedestudio.com

Thanks to Sam, Val, Morgan, Jenn, and Marcelo for attending the reception. It was a great time.

After the event:

The company that sponsored the AIGA fundraiser: What's your Cause, was kind enough to print us 100 cards and 25 posters of our cards for free. This greatly helped the Wear Recycle crew to get out the word, and to start feeling like all this hard work is worth something, recognition I guess you could say. I want to formally thank Graphics West for being the first sponsor of Wear Recycle! Thank you.

Graphics West
www.graphicswest.com
3901 Graphic Center Dr
Las Vegas, NV 89118
(702) 798-9444

They did a great job, so lets use them when possible and send them happy and warm thankful energy.

Name change...coming again..Wear Recycle

2008-12-23T22:36:00.000-08:00

Wear Recycle updates

2008-12-23T21:45:00.000-08:00

Wow has the month moved fast.

I first want to acknowledge that it is about 40 degree warmer here in Vegas then I am used to from Chicago. Its awesome. I go out with minimal layers, no jacket at night! I love that.

So for those who have been watching my flickr page, I have been doing some commission work that's not to exciting. That's nothing compared to the advances that have been made in the Wear Recycle project.

The name will soon be changed again, because I finally pinpointing the concept down. I was never really settled with the project being about fashion's relation with material. It was a start in developing the idea for the physical sculptures, but it the process: casting someone, the closeness, the conversation, the relationships that were being built and exploited in the process seemed more important than the fashion aspects. Tricia Blauvelt is helping me develop another name. I will announce it when it is officially changed...again.

Last time I wrote I talked about an AIGA card. Until today I had not scanned the card, but here it is:

I wanted to scan it instead of put the original file because I'm so excited about them and the paper grain proves to me their existance. So there it is.

Here are people who helped with the success of the AIGA card.

Ann Petit from Suede Studios designed the card.

I met Ann soon after moving here at a Henderson Chamber of Commerce event. She has become a great friend... but most importantly for the purposes here, she is an excellent graphic designer, creative director, and visual consultant with over 25 years experience.

She is incredible. Her and I sat for hours making this card. Mostly I was like lets do this and that, and she was like "ah how about this", and I was like...."WOW that's amazing, I would never had thought of that". Over and over again for hours.
Then I went home to do some work and she spent more hours on it.

Related but unrelated: Not to mention she came to my rescue to assist when last minute I didn't have an assistant, and she's going to help make giant recycled paper (a pain in the butt process that makes this project go around). I want to send her a large big cuddly thanks, she def doesn't have the time to help with this project, but has squished me in when she can, and when she shouldn't have but I was desperate. Its all Well appreciated.

Here might be a good place to add that she also let me experiment on her with the cast. She was the first person to let me do it to them, not even my boyfriend would let me! For good reason, I hadn't perfected my skill yet and ripped out quite a bit of her hair. She was a trooper though. I have planned for her to be the next model photographed, 1st business owner to be photographed...exciting! So if I ever get to the editing for the last shoot then you will soon after see Ann's photos. They're going to be awesome.

I am hiring Ann to reconstruct everything visual for Nicky Watts Studios, including a new website, logo, business cards, a secret marketing idea that we developed, and more. I am so excited because she is so in tuned with all that stuff that I could care less to think about. I recommend you have her redo your business's public image as well. Its worth it.

Suede Studios
Ann Petit
www.suedestudio.com

After the event:
The company that sponsored the AIGA fundraiser that put this competition on, was kind enough to print us 100 cards and 25 posters. This greatly helped the Wear Recycle crew to get out the word, and to start feeling like all this hard work is worth something, recognition I guess you could say. I want to formally thank Graphics West for being the first sponsor of Wear Recycle! Thank you.

Graphics West
www.graphicswest.com
3901 Graphic Center Dr
Las Vegas, NV 89118
(702) 798-9444

They did a great job, so lets use them when possible and send them happy and warm thankful energy.

To move on.

Last weekend Rich, our old roommate Tim from Chicago, and I drove to LA where we attended a Christmas party with a band named Malbec. Malbec is great. They have wicked hip music and are so creative when it comes to their videos and photos. I photographed them before when I went to LA with Rich.

This time the whole Malbec crew, excluding their manager let me cast them. It is huge because it they are the first people that did not have their heads casted. We casted Nick's upper back/shoulders, Mark's whole back while he was bending down touching his toes, Sam's shoulder to her elbow but she had it extended back and inverting and flexing, I don't know, it was weird, Sid's shoulders but more in the front and separate, and Pablos two forarm tops held in fists. They came out great and I'm really excited both to have alternative body parts other than heads, and 5 people. That's the most so far in one shoot. Exciting!

I just want to mention that I wore a crazy hootchie tight bright red jump suit with a candy cane print belt to their Christmas party. It was treacherous. Certainly a good laugh. I never meant to really wear that thing...

Here's a great video that Malbec just put out.

video

2008-11-24T22:50:00.000-08:00

Look at this awesome video that Rich Castro made for the Wear Recycle shoot #4!

Nicky Watts Studios - Wear Recycle Photoshoot #4 from Rich Castro on Vimeo.

Wear Recycle #3, sneak peak of #4, and more

2008-11-22T23:15:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone.

A new Henderson Art Association blog is really kick butt: www.hendersonartassociation.blogspot.com

A lot has been going on in the crazy life of Nicky. I have started the sculptures I am making for WoPro, my licensing for Nicky Watts Studios has been officially started, I submitted a card design for AIGA, the Recycle Paper Sculpture Series has moved forward, I am starting a branch company with another photographer, the Chamber had Ann and I present at the network breakfast, and these last two weeks have been killer.

Those of you who have been following my blog are familiar with my assignment with WoPro. I have started the first of the 15-20 sculptures. It's a bust. She'll be wearing a large fancy hat and a corset to pay tribute to the first woman to receive a patten in the US: Mary Kies. I'll talk more about this when I have photos to show and more sculptures.

I am applying to be an S-Corp under the recommendation of a lawyer who will be my corporate lawyer. Her name is Darcy and she is very nice, intelligent, and she's going to let me cast her head for Wear Recycle (well, I think I have convinced her).

As for Wear Recycle (formally Recycled Paper Sculpture Series): I got this new name because, with the recommendation of Ann, I submitted a card to the AIGA "What's Your Cause" card fundraiser. Ann (Pettit) of Suede Studios helped me design it. She's my best buddy here and a really great designer. She came up with Wear Recycle and it sounds a whole lot better than Recycle Paper Sculpture Series, so I'm using that now....thanks Ann. I'm always stealing here incredible ideas.

Well, to make a long story short about this fundraiser, the place that sponsored the event: Graphics West, is printing me up a bunch of extra copies of the cards. So unofficially they are the first sponsors of the project. I haven't told them that yet, but I'm sure they won't mind the advertising. I appreciate what they are doing so much.

Since the last time I wrote, the team and I have shot two photo shoot, three people, and I have casted three more. We are weaning into business owners and community members. I have a lot of people who have agreed to do it now. About 15 professionals! I'm really excited about that. Bre and Alice from the Henderson Chamber are doing it along with a handful of chamber members. I love getting the community involved. I'm trying really hard to link the business owners and professionals I meet with the arts in Henderson. One could say it is my goal.

#3

Thank goodness these are done! The editing in this batch took a while, but I'm finally finished. Honestly, I didn't think I shot it very well, but I'm happy with the final outcome.

Photographer and Sculptor: Nicky Watts
Model: Brittani Rael
Hair Stylist: Valarie Zwahlen
Make Up Artist: Samantha Henrikson
Assistants: Jennifer Nicholson and Jeannette Spradley

Here's a sneak peak of what #4 looks like

Photographer and Sculptor: Nicky Watts
Model: Malika Istandarova
Hair Stylist: Valarie Zwahlen
Make Up Artist: Samantha Henrikson
Assistants: Ann Pettit

This is from the 4th shoot. I rushed getting the editing for this done because Malika is submitting it for the cover of a magazine in the country she is from. Don't ask me what country because she told me and I had never heard of it. I guess it used to be part of Russia, but I could be totally wrong on that. Geography was always a challenge to me. I'm crossing my fingers because it would be great if it were published, especially on the cover! Wear Recycle international!

I had to put this set on hold after completing this image so I could finish Brittani's photos. So they will be done soon. The shoot was also with Pharoah Najm, but you'll see him in the finished products ;).

I will tell you more about my future endeavors with Jenn and Marcelo when it is more set up and ready.

Network Breakfast!!! Ann Pettit (previously mentioned) and I had the opportunity to present our Strategic Alliance at the breakfast. This was a great opportunity for Ann and I to boast about our skills and companies and each others in front of everyone. We used the AIGA card as an example and discussed how we plan marketing strategies together. I used my recent ploy: the coca cola playing card attached to my business card. We did a great job. I am sure I got at least one client from it, and possibly another. Good work to both of us!

Well, I'm pretty tired of writing now. There are advances in HAA and the artist/live space I'm trying to build too, but I'm too tired to explain. More very soon, not sure when because I have a shoot tomorrow that will take a lot of editing, but soon.

Thanks for reading. :)

Another Jenn Martin, my trip to MA: Aaron, RPSS update, and some patrotism

2008-11-11T22:29:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry I have been awful with updating lately. Basically, I was in MA for 10 days and have not stopped moving since I got back.

Here is the image I have finished in a crazy style from the Jenn Martin shoot. I wanted to make it creepy since the idea of blocking oneself from being able to talk is a morbid, but consistently real idea. She looks bird like, intense. What do you think of the style?

Makeup Artist/Light Hair: Zoya Pride
Assistant: Jenn Nicholson

So I went home to help my mom move from the cellar back up into the normal part of her house and to attend a Halloween Wedding of my great friend Natalie.

The wedding was the most fun and interesting wedding I have ever attended. Natalie was the most beautiful bride I have ever seen.

For my mom's house, I scraped a lot wall paper and lead paint. I wore a whole body suit, gloves to my elbows, a face mask, and goggles. I felt mighty protected. I ended up wearing this wonderful outfit as my Halloween costume, it worked well.

I also brought my camera gear for my sister so I could take photo of her family. I shot my nephew and two new nieces. The baby is blood and the oldest is married in, but hell, she's my niece too no matter what anyone else wants to say about it. I guess I have one more, but since I haven't spent any time with her yet its hard to consider her my niece too. I have not finished the other photos yet, only Aaron's. Well family stuff, not what you're here for, but you have got to see these photos of my nephew. If he is not a performer I don't know who is.

That's the normal one, proper.

Yup, this was his idea to put his hat like that.

Here's his shocked look

And this next one is my favorite:

His gangster look.

Now it is very clear to me that this kid has a future in media mainstream. For 10 years old to have his awareness of emotion behind the camera! Oh how I love this kid. Look at how awesome his eyes are. I'm not sure if its just a strange reflections that was going on, but he has an orange spot in his right (our left) eye and the other one is a much stronger blue. I did saturate them, but I didn't change any colors. Crazy awesome. Our Aunt Lisa has a spot in one of her eyes too. Tarcy (my sister, his mom) said he doesn't, so maybe its just my photos, but it looks like he does too. I love it.

Recycled Paper Sculpture Series Update

I have a shoot tomorrow and next Wednesday I have another one but that one will be the first one that I shoot two models at one time. I'm not sure how it will go, but we'll see.

I have also halted on casting models and have now moved into performers, business owners, community members, and families. Mainly what I call normal people. I have casted my friend Ann, actually, she was my test cast, but I will hopefully be shooting her soon. I have received confirmations from a few Henderson Chamber of Commerce members too. I am very excited about this transition into "normal people". I am hoping to cast Rich soon and maybe he will cast and shoot me too. I want to cast everyone I know. I'm not sure if that's possible, but I want to try. As soon as I buy the big box of plaster from online, I think I will have a huge casting day where I invite people over all day to cast. I love that idea!

If you are interested in being casted and can come to me just let me know. I would love to expand it internationally, but since I'm a broke artist it could only be if you come to me, or get me to you. Really I like the second option more :) But then you would still have to get to Vegas because my hair and makeup artists who are signed for the whole project are here in Vegas. Of course we could all travel to other places, I'm sure they wouldn't have any objections ;).

Another update on this project is that I made a card for AIGA for a fundraiser they have going on. The fundraiser is Name Your Cause. Of course I was fusing fashion with recycling. Ann Petit, my very good friend here in Vegas, who is an exceptional graphic designer helped me design it. The card came out great and I am happy to announce that many participants in the project will be attending the reception on Thursday. I am very excited that even a couple of the models who have not been shot yet are going to the reception to support the project. I love that; it makes me feel like the models feel good about participating in the series. Ann did a really great job.

There's a lot of other really exciting stuff that's going on and to make it simple I am going to copy and paste what I wrote for Stefani for WoPro. This is pretty advertising proper, but I just wrote it yesterday...along with the first proposal to the Artist/Living spaces that I mention in here.

Bio
As an active member of the contemporary art world, Nicky Watts has organized seventeen art exhibitions and has been a featured artist in 18 exhibitions nationally and internationally including two solo exhibitions. Her art medium/type ranges from fashion, painting, performance, photography, sculpture, and video. Aside from her personal art experience, Nicky Watts has worked as a free-lance photographer for the past five years.

Currently, Watts is involved in an array of activities including starting her own business, developing a large-scale art exhibition, volunteering in her community, and planning art living spaces in a developing Henderson neighborhood.
Watts combines her event planning, contemporary art skill, and experience with photography to Construct the Perfect Image to Sell Your Product under the name Nicky Watts Studios. She works with companies to create cutting edge images for advertising as well as photographs models and talent to create creative and diverse portfolios. Whether the product is a person, object, or idea, when one chooses Nicky Watts Studios it is guaranteed quality and satisfaction.

“An artist or business owner is only as strong as the community that surrounds her.” Therefore Watts believes being an active volunteer in her community is vital for growth, success, and satisfaction.

“I am asking the community business owners, families, and politicians to contribute their time to show their support for Mother Earth.” Watts is in the middle of creating a large conceptual art exhibit using junk paper to make photographs of the “Recycled Paper Sculpture Series”. She has been photographing Las Vegas models and is just beginning to cast (the first process to complete the sculptures) performers, business owners, and community members. She will then move on to prominent figures in the community, politicians, and celebrities. Watts is hoping to gain participation from a few full casts of Las Vegas shows such as one of the Cirque du Soleil or Phantom of the Opera.

Watts is an ambassador to the Henderson Chamber of Commerce where she welcomes new businesses to the Chamber community. This relationship has been a strong developing tool for her and she feels grateful to be able to give back encouraging other members to realize and utilize potential for success in the business world through the Chamber.

Recently, Watts has become the first Public Relations person for the Henderson Art Association in over three years. The Association, also know as HAA, is a driving force for artists in the Henderson area. It is responsible for the Third Thursday event that takes place in the Water Street District of Henderson and is a large part of a development effort to make the Water Street District a thriving arts district in Henderson.

For WoPro, Watts is developing a large-scale sculpture series based off important women in our history and present time to create a photo montage timeline that WoPro will use for advertising memorabilia. Watts is a founding member of the organization which celebrates women’s achievements and strengths. Her art making and dedication is a large point of interest within WoPro.

Using the relationships she has made in the Chamber of Commerce, Henderson Art Association, WoPro, and her previous experiences of art organizing, education, managing artists, and event planning, Watts is planning to build artist live/work spaces in the Water Street District. If achieved, these living spaces will be a grounding achievement in the development of the Water Street District by bringing artists into the community. It will be a core-working environment for artist offering photography, 2d, and sculpture studio space as well as a music production room and a wood/metals workshop. It will give the neighboring restaurants and cafés a reason to stay open late, as well as put Henderson on the map as a leading art environment.

I wrote this for the front page to the WoPro website. I am honored that Stefani is putting me on there. She's great. I will talk about her when the work I am doing for WoPro has developed a little more than it has right now. Its a great organization with a great president. If you see any typos in the bio, let me know. I'm not a very good editor of my own stuff.

Well, so much is going on I could keep talking, but then I wouldn't get much done. There's one more Jenn Martin image coming but I need a higher resolution Waterford Wedgewood logo to put on it before it gets sent out.

Thanks for reading.

another

2008-10-19T15:15:00.001-07:00

Here's another one from Jenn's shoot yesterday

2008-10-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

An elegant feathered friend

2008-10-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

This is Jenn Martin. She came to me in need of starting a modeling portfolio. We decided to give her four different looks, so she looked like she has had more experience than just one photo shoot.

This picture was the last of the four different styles. We struggled to find the perfect ornament to add to the look. This headdress is actually a bra type piece of clothing that I found at a thrift store a couple of months ago.

The makeup artist: Zoya Pride, did a wonderful job with makeup in this shot. Jenn really resembles a bird.

Photographer: Nicky Watts
Model: Jenn Martin
Hair and Make Up: Zoya Pride

Recycled Paper Sculpture #2!

2008-10-16T21:59:00.000-07:00

Oh yes. Here it is.

For those of you who don't know, I have been working on these recycled paper sculptures for a while now. I made my first one when I was still living in Chicago. It took about two weeks for the paper to dry. Here in Vegas, in the dead heat of summer, it took about 24 hours.

The original sculpture was of a sewing mannequin that I had built a pregnant belly on. I was going to deal with my sisters pregnancy through this. Tarcy (my sister) had giving birth by the time I graduated and was able to put my time into the project.

I kept the idea of recycled paper sculptures in my head. Then a client of mine wanted really creative portraits: walla...time for the recycled paper sculpture... He turned down the idea, but my mind wouldn't let it go.

I have also been taking 8x10 negatives of these shoots, and have developed them. I got acceptable images from each shoot, with lots and lots of room for improvement. It seems my camera has a light leak, so I need to figure out exactly where. Its a new camera for me. I'm actually borrowing for a very long time and am hoping that I'm not asked for it back until I can afford to get my own. Its like my baby, I love it.

Here are the pics.

and the credits:

Photographer: Nicky Watts
Location: Nicky Watts Studios, Las Vegas
Model: Priscilla Gallegos
Make Up Artist: Samantha Henrikson
Hair Stylist: Valarie Zwahlen
Recycled Paper Sculpture: custom $2500: Nicky Watts
Wardrobe: Priscilla Gallegos
Assistant: Morgan Zwahlen

I just want to announce, that I have an incredible team working with me on this. They are just so cool.

I almost forgot to mention; while we were preparing for the shoot, Samantha and I decided to make hamburgers (She was very early so it was no big deal), and I'm always concerned that everyone ate well before hard work. At some point while the burgers were cooking, I forgot the spatula on the stove and walked away. There was a huge burnt section of the spatula followed by the fire alarms. Oh boy must I have the worst fire alarm on the face of the planet. Rich and I have no reason to worry that we would sleep through them, that's for sure. Luckily, Priscilla hadn't eaten either so it justified the awful noise that was erupting right as Valarie and Priscilla were settling in. The fire alarms went off twice, and Priscilla's first burger was barely cooked. What a riot! Its a good thing I'm a photographer and not a chef!

Coco Rouge Shoot

2008-10-10T17:48:00.001-07:00

I forgot to mention that I finished the head shot of Heather Heins from the Coco Rouge shoot. For those of you who are not familiar with this shoot, I will post all the post-processed photos from it here.

Here are the credits for the shoot.

Photographer: Nicky Watts
Location: Coco Rouge, Chicago
Model: Heather Heins
Make Up Artist: Katelyn Westerman
Hair Stylist: Angelica Rivera @ Tigerlilie Salon, Chicago
Stylist: Nicky Watts
Necklace: Fey & Company
Dress: Nicole Miller
Assistances: Dicky C, Jamilah Adebesin, Mike Mason

And here are the photos that I finished from this shoot a while back.

This came out of a Butch Walker concert.

I was visiting Chicago a couple months back for three weeks with Rich. My very good friend Andres DeJesus (a great photographer as well) let me borrow his lighting equipment while I was there. Heather (who is a friend of Rich's). mentioned to Rich that she wanted to do a pin up style shoot. He asked me if I had time.

HHmmm....my mind started spinning, as it often does when I'm approached to do a shoot. The next day Heather and I went shopping to find stuff for the shoot. I had already decided I wanted it at Coco Rouge (I had had a drink at a wine bar next door a couple nights before), though at that time didn't know for sure if they would let me. In three days time, I booked the shoot with Coco Rouge, had Katelyn the makeup artist, all the accessories, and we were ready to shoot.

We were having problems finding someone who would do hair without pay. A problem I have had for many of my fun shoots. Last minute, Heather found Angelica and she rushed to get her hair done at Tigerlilie salon before the shoot.

Then the waiting came. Heather had gotten turned around on her way back from the salon and was completely lost. We were suppose to start shooting at 10pm, when Coco Rouge closes, but Heather didn't even arrive until 10:15. The shoot took much longer than I anticipated and we didn't get out until past midnight.

Of course it was all worth it, because these photos came out incredible. Everyone did a wonderful job and Coco Rouge was the perfect setting.

I just wanted to mention the light that is coming from behind Heather. Mike Mason was holding that light and every time it flashed, it must have blinded him but he was such a team player. And Jamilah...how I love Jamilah, I could tell she wanted to be modeling; she's the gorgeous woman in my Afrikan Queen photo below. We will have to do a really elaborate photo shoot with her modeling next time.

Casting and more

2008-10-10T16:25:00.001-07:00

Ok. So I haven't blogged in a little while. It doesn't mean I haven't been doing some cool things though.

I have now finished the second recycled paper sculpture and will be shoot Priscilla on Tuesday.

I just casted the third model about a half our ago. Her name is Malikasha and she has incredible hair. So much that we had problems getting control of it for the casting. I ended up making a ring for the cast, so her hair can come out the middle for the shoot. Malikasha and her sister Mira were so nice.

I also have a shoot on Sunday to develop a young ladies first modeling portfolio.

I had a ribbon cutting at The Waterford Wedgewood Company Store earlier this week. The manager there, Kim, said I can use their merchandise in my photos. I'm so excited, I borrowed a perfume bottle. Kim said it had a specific name because it sprays, but I don't know what it is. This will go very nice with the shoot on Sunday. We will be doing an evening shot, it will go perfect.

Since the last time I wrote, I also have attended a exporting seminar. I hope that I am able and prepared to export within a year. I want my exhibitions to go over seas, so I will be looking into this more.

I've been working diligently on Crystal Bowersox's cd cover. i am prob starting over because neither her or myself are loving what I've been working on, but I've been having a lot of fun with the blending and layer modes. I'll prob put up all the different experiments once I have finalized what it will be.

Well, Take care.

Competitors

2008-09-30T21:22:00.000-07:00

So I'm still working on my business plan.

It's a long process if one is doing it correctly. It involves research, planning, deep thought, and a whole lot of aggravation. On the plus side, it gives a person allocated time to investigate others who are your competitors. Those who have mastered what your goal.

I have found a website today with an agent who has miraculous taste in photographers. One day my works will take up internet space on this page of great talent.

Here is the list of great photographers that I consider competitors. It is mainly the fashion side of my competition, though a few shoot celebrities as well. Investigation takes a while ;).

With Agent: Michele Filomeno
Alexis Silvagni
Christophe Kutner
Claus Wickrath
David Ferrua
James Macari
Javier Valihonrat
Jean-Francois Campos
Juan Gatti
Peter Lindbergh
Sophie Delaporte
Stafano Galuzzi
Tiziano Magni

I also put Annie Leibovitz on the list even though she is not represented by Filomeno. She has been very lucky to have shot much subject matter that interests me.

This list will grow as my investigation blooms. I am going to try and contact as many of these photographers as I can to get advice from them. They all have incredible work.

Hhmmmm Stock Market

2008-09-30T00:39:00.000-07:00

I only wish I had enough money to invest right now while everything is dirt cheap.

I'm glad the bail out didn't pass, the market was going to crash any ways it just would have taken a couple weeks longer.

I'm glad for my acquaintance Mike who owns Gold Casters. He sells gold and the stock went way up for it. Congrats. :)

Who ever knew that Wall Street Culture was actually exciting?

4:09 AM: Crystal Bowersox

2008-09-29T04:09:00.001-07:00

Yes, I stayed up all night photo shopping this, but its done...and it kicks butt!

Crystal Bowersox on her farm

It might get squished or cut off, so click on it to see the whole thing.

Business Plan

2008-09-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

Today I have been working on my business plan. It has been a tough and tiring thing to work through, but helpful and rewarding. I suggest all new photographers to start one ASAP. It allows you to know your goals and realities.

Shoot #1 of Recycled Paper Sculptures

2008-09-25T01:22:00.000-07:00

This shoot was the most amazing shoot ever! I swear. Here are the credits:

Photographer: Nicky Watts
Location: Nicky Watts Studios, Las Vegas
Model: Zaya Kharkhuu
Make Up Artist: Samantha Hendrickson
Hair Stylist: Valarie Zwahlen
Recycled Paper Sculpture: custom $2500: Nicky Watts
Wardrobe: Zaya Kharkhuu
Assistant: Jeannette Spradley

Everyone did such a great job, I already finished the job. 4 pictures photoshopped, oh...and shot, in one day. Oh yea, I'm on a roll. Here's the grid I made of the final three I kept as the best.

Awesome, huh. Ok, well I'm off to sleep. Well after I print one for my very early morning networking breakfast....7am...yuck.

Websites

2008-09-23T22:11:00.000-07:00

Let me give you all a word of advise.

NEVER HAVE A WEB DESIGNER UPLOAD YOUR WEBSITE UNTIL IT IS COMPLETELY FINISHED!!!!! I MEAN COMPLETELY, NO MATTER WHAT THE RUSH MAY BE.

If it seems to be going faster than you understand, it is and you will pay for it later; and my web person is very nice and has high recommendation, so I can only image for the real sleaze balls out there.

If you are interested in hearing more about the troubles of this let me know, other wise I will not rant and rave on about it.

Photoshop girl...and more

2008-09-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

I have started my recycled paper sculpture series. I'm really excited, I shoot the first one tomorrow. I have finished the sculpture for it, I tested the 8x10 camera.....and guess what....IT WORKS!

Tomorrow I have a solid team of people who are really excited about working with me. You can't get better than that.

Here are some pics I've finished recently. Its all stuff I shot this year but revised it. Most of it I shot in the last couple months.

This picture is of Ben Hilt of Raw Milk. It is from a shut down bridge in Chicago. It was crazy because I really wanted to shoot at this bridge, but I didn't even know if it had existed anymore. I ran into my first year living in Chicago with the brilliant Chicago artist Emmit Liston, but I hadn't seen it since. So it had basically been 6 years and I only vaguely knew what I was looking for. Rich thought I was crazy and it didn't exist, but here it is. We found it on intuition with no problem. I love it when that works out.

These two beautiful young ladies are Sheri and Jhanna Cox. They are both sisters who also happen to be incredible makeup artists. We shot this photo in Crystal Bowersox's apartment. We shot this when I was visiting Chicago for three weeks a couple months ago (one of 8 shoots). These are pictures that the sisters have wanted for a long time. It was a riot because we were actually (don't tell anyone) going to shoot in an empty apartment, but due to complications ended up shooting in Crystal's. Crystal's mom was there and admitted later that she thought they were lesbians because of their closeness. That made me laugh, these sisters are close, but not that close ;).

This was a great trade, I get to get my eye brows sculpted and my mustache removed when ever I make it to Chicago. These are services I would never pay, but between my trade with Angel at Buzz salon for prints of my Chastised Series and this, I am a very spoiled Chicago tourist :).

Here's another one from that series, but I don't love the background color here. What do you all think, should I change the background? ich likes it but I think it takes away from them. Something's not quite right.

The girls wanted the skin very smooth, I'm still debating whether this is way too smooth.

Well, there's more, but this is enough for now. Soon I will do a whole section on Crystal Bowersox. She is my favorite musician that I just so happen to have been lucky enough to have shot about 5 times. I will explain everything some day, but I'm working on her cd cover now and I want to wait. Check out her music at

www.myspace.com/crystallbowersox

I listen to this over and over again, I can't get enough of it.

Well, good night, Nicky

New Movements

2008-09-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited. My 8x10 camera is now set up in the living room and ready to be tested to make sure it works. I don't see any problems with it, other than a small chip around the edge of the lens. This sucks, but its not the end of the world either. I even have the film loaded so by the end of the day, it will be tested. Hopefully I will know this tomorrow or Tuesday.

I have been moving forward on my womens' body project. I will be meeting with some women in the next couple of weeks who are very interested in participating.

Now I have the group of former show girls
a belly dancer
a model
and an freelance escort

who are interested or have agreed to participate already. This is so exciting. I'm going to budget in some time next week to paint. With this many girls interested, all I need is to move forward with them and finish two paintings and I will be able to apply for some grants. Oh...its getting closer. I can feel it.

And.... I have a photo shoot this week for the recycled paper sculpture portraits. I will be testing on Ann tonight, casting the model on Monday, and we will shooting on Wednesday. Hair and makeup are already covered. I'm hoping to shoot both digital and with the 8x10 camera. How exciting!

Well, this isn't it, I have set up a separate Nicky Watts Studios myspace, Henderson Art Association email, a spam email, I found that an email I was using for flickr had been hacked and the individual had a myspace under it. I canceled that. I guess this is good advances in my internet PR. I'm pretty happy with it all because it all takes time to do. Well, so long. I'm hoping to video tape Monday and Wednesday so everyone can see the process.

And...lastly....WoPRo (the women's Networking Community that I'm really excited about) seems to be moving along really good. If all works out I will be renting some loft space with this organization. It will be shared space of 2000 sqft or more depending if the leads that exist now go through. Stefani, the president of the organization, is waiting to get the loft to see if contracts close. If they do the space will be bigger. Everything will be on wheels so it will be easy to shift things around depending on need. This will allow me to make huge sets, and that's what she wants me to do. She wants it to be based around the arts and I am the artist involved. It will be shared with 25-? professional women. I'm so very excited for this to happen. I feel good about it inside. I'm crossing my fingers, so you should all cross yours for me too. Well, I'll keep you updated.

Nicky

Malbec

2008-09-16T22:39:00.001-07:00

I have completed a bunch of work the last couple days. That convention just continues to prove its worth every time I'm on Photoshop.

This photo is really exciting to me. It's Malbec, a Los Angeles band I've wanted to shoot since I saw them in Chicago a couple months ago. This was on a whim, I was randomly passing through LA and called them. I happened to have about 60 yard worth of netting in the back of my (well Rich's) Honda Element named Eleanor. My style is usually heavily planned out, but here I had to think quick with little resources (well I had all my equipment)...little props.

Here's what I came out with. Its fun, was laid back (which I prefer), quick (which I also prefer for the actual shooting part), and they love the picture. They even want me to go back. I'm happy :)

Heather Heins at Coco Rouge

2008-09-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

I finished a picture I have been working on. I am pleased with my advances in photoshop since I attended Photoshop World Convention a couple weeks ago. Here's the before and after picture:

Before:

And After:

This picture came about at a Butch Walker show. Heather (a friend of Rich's) expressed the desire to do a pinup shoot. This is what I turned that into. It will also be used as an advertisement for Coco Rouge, the chocolate store in Chicago in which it was located.

Here are the credits for the pic:

Photographer: Nicky Watts
Location: Coco Rouge, Chicago
Model: Heather Heins
Make Up Artist: Katelyn Westerman
Hair Stylist: Angelica Rivera @ Tigerlilie Salon, Chicago
Necklace: Fey & Company
Dress: Nicole Miller
Assistances: Dicky C, Jamilah Adebesin, Mike Mason

2008-09-11T21:33:00.001-07:00

Today I went to this network lunch with one of my favorite groups I'm involved in; Chics Who Click. Its a wonderful group of photographers that meet once a month for lunch and talk about business. Today we discussed insurance, oh so helpful. The verdict....you need it! Business insurance in particular.

We also talked about PPA I think it is. Highly recommended for its professionalism and support for photographers. I think its actually something else; Professional Photographers Association ....... These girls are a riot. This has been my third month and I plan to continue. Every week (well almost) we take a group picture. Here's our picture this month:

Fun Hah?

After that I met with Sharon and Deb from the Henderson Art Association. I will be doing PR work for them. It was great to finally get grounded on what is going on with the association. Boy are they in a shift right now, I've come at the perfect time. Not to be arrogant or anything, but the woman who ran it before Deb really had it grounded, and its been in the weird shift that happens when a new director takes over. Now it really sounds like they're ready to move it forward. At least Sharon and Deb are. I am too....all of you who know me sure know I love planning stuff. I will have to restrain myself though, its not my group this time. That my be a little difficult to grasp at first, but I think I will be able to step off. I just hope people tell me if I'm pissing them off.

I'm really excited for tomorrow. I am meeting with Stefani, the individual who is starting the group called WoPro that I am involved in. I love her. She has a great personality and I am really pumped about the group. I can't wait to hear the advances she has made.

Well, soon I'm sure :0

I forgot to mention that the studio we are in for the Chics Who Click lunch is Connie's: Thanks Connie. She's the one who looks like Bette Midler. I love it.

First day of blogging!

2008-09-10T19:26:00.001-07:00

Hi.

I'm Nicky Watts, the one and only!! Actually, if you google my name a hockey player also comes up, so I guess I'm not the one and only. But, to elaborate slightly, I am like no other.

This is my first time blogging. I have been encouraged to do this for a while now, so I figured I might as well give it a try.

I'm about to turn 26. Getting older is great and deserves recognition. One more year survived in a world that throws individuals around like the wind. There's pride to reaching an age I never thought I would live to see. My current living location is Henderson, NV; just outside Las Vegas. My boyfriend and I of three years moved here to escape the chaos and cold chill of Chicago. Aug. would have marked my 7th year there; Rich grew up in the suburbs.

My occupation is as a contemporary artist and photographer.

For my age I am well practiced in the process of exhibitions. I worked as a free-lance photographer for over 5 years and have exhibited my art work in nearly 20 art exhibits. Organizing events and collaboration are pass times of mine. I ran an art group called New Works Group closely affiliated with the New Works Gallery at UIC for 2 years while I attended the Art and Design department. I graduated. UIC was a warm encouraging place to be, until my last year and a half. I found my Art Education teachers to be disrespectful and unnecessary, the photography department was my refuge.

In this blog, I will talk about my daily achievements as a photographer and artist. Maybe I will venture into the achievements in my life as well, but we'll see ;). I will start with last night:

I had the wonderful privilege of photographing Malbec in LA, CA. That is my achievement as of now. When I have completed the pictures I will prob have more to say about it. I'm blog pooped out, good bye for now.

Nicky