About
Penni AlZayer, The Henna Faerie, first fell in love with henna in Fes, Morocco and later began her personal henna journey during 15 years living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She maintains a busy schedule working at area festivals and events, and also offers private appointments in her home studio, a magical little vardo parked in a grove near the whimsical woodland home she shares with her husband in Ohio’s scenic Hocking Hills, just minutes from the region’s caves, waterfalls and hiking trails which are a constant source of inspiration.
Courses
Portraits: Capturing the Likeness
Drawing a human face can be challenging, especially when it needs to be realistic rather than stylized. Producing drawing of technical excellence that fail to capture the likeness of the subject is a common frustration. While practice is certainly important, learning to analyze and ‘see’ what makes each face distinctive and unique is equally necessary to rendering an accurate likeness. This hands-on class will focus on identifying and implementing those elusive little details that set each face apart from all others, while addressing challenges that are unique to doing portraits in henna.
Beyond Tradition: Finding Inspiration in Art History
Traditional henna designs are varied and beautiful, and yet, sooner or later most of us yearn to mix it up a little, and add variety and freshness to our work. Visual art has been with us from the beginning of human history, so looking back at earlier periods and styles of art – or even the work of individual artists is an easily accessible source and rich and varied treasure trove of inspiration.. This class will explore some especially henna-friendly ideas taken directly from centuries of art history.
Uniquely You: Finding Your Own Voice and Path as an Artist
Most of us could list more than a few other henna artists we deeply admire – those whose work awes, challenges, and yes, sometimes intimidates us just a little. It can be useful to analyze what makes these artists distinctive, and what about their work speaks to us, but even more so, we need to examine whether or not they were born already equipped to produce brilliance, or whether there are commonalities in the journeys that brought them to having very personal and wonderful voices.
Flower Class