The Belly Love - The Perfect Canvas project is all about the celebration of all bodies, no matter who inhabits them or how they function. Bellies specifically are so often shamed into hiding, people and systems trying to fit them into a perfectly white, flat and unblemished mold - and if you are anything less, keep it all under wraps.

I'm here to say that, as someone else with a bloated, sometimes distended belly with tons of hair myself, that they've got it all wrong. Your belly supports you everyday, to keep you living and breathing. And even if it doesn't, due to any matter of physical (or even mental) disability, your belly tries its best to keep you happy and healthy despite everything it's been through with you. It deserves to be celebrated for its every detail, from the hair around your belly button to the way it spills out over your hips, or breathes around your c-section scar.

The belly project is all about this - celebrating your belly for all it does for you and meeting it where it's at. Self love is never easy, but being able to beautify an area that is so often chastised and scrutinized for all our lives is one way of taking that first step. After so much turmoil and shame, it should get its flowers too. But maybe just for this time, they'll be painted instead of given in a vase

- Sam McGowan
INSTAGRAM: ​www.instagram.com/sammcarts/

After being separated from my authentic
self, for quite some time, I have spent the
last 1744 days reconnecting.
1 day at a time, 1 step at a time, letting go,
trusting the process and asking for help!
My name is Terra, and I am a recovering
alcoholic.
I choose not to be anonymous, in hopes
that my story might help others crack open
that door, to a new beginning. ( A life lived
without Alcohol. )
We all have a unique story, and it took me
many failed attempts on my own before I
was desperate enough to reach out and ask
for some help.
I have no control over Alcohol, I finally
could admit I had a problem! I always
thought that an alcoholic had to be
someone who drank everyday, someone
who has lost their job, their license, ect.
I couldn't identify with those qualifications, and this is 1 reason that had
kept me sick. Not realizing that the path I
was on would surely lead me in that
direction.
A progressive disease I am told.
But whenever I had a drink or 2 , I found it
very difficult to stop at that. And if I did
manage to stop there, I was very irritable
and discontent.
I was always an all or nothing type drinker.
It had a hold on me, and I had real difficulty
living in the moment.
I rarely felt content.
Waiting for the weekend so I could let
loose and be free from my thoughts, and
my responsibilities for a while.
I was living my life on repeat, on the same
rollercoaster that I couldn't get off.
Today my life is beyond my dreams. My
heart is full, self love is now something I
practice daily. The opportunities that are
arriving are refreshing and readily accepted.

I can breath!  I can move with ease, knowing
where I'm supposed to be. I feel apart of my
community, I show up for my family and
friends and I am accountable. My life has
done a 180. I'm so grateful. My spirituality is
growing and getting stronger! I can look in
the mirror now and tell myself I am loved.
If you are struggling, please reach out. Ask
for help, you are worth it.
​
Having had done this incredible experience
with Jennifer, I now feel even closer to my
higher power, Mother Nature.
Staying grounded is continuous process
that I am willing to put my time into these
days. Thank you Jennifer for all your kind
affirmations, guidance, love and
acceptance sharing part of my story with
others!
Terra Barkwill

#recovery #selflove #addiction #alcoholism #AA #healing #photography #photographer #mentalhealthmatters

What we really have to do is stop looking for approval and validation from others. And I'm not saying this to sound like a jerk and I'm not saying it because I'm upset I'm saying it because it's true.

We need to learn how to validate ourselves. It's sad, of course we all want validation from others. But to be honest we're not always going to get that. And it's not because people are coming from a bad place it's because other people have other things going on in their lives.

And the one thing I've learned over the last few years is not everybody has the same heart and mind and thoughts as you do. We want others to treat us how we would treat them but that's just not always going to happen. And I don't mean this from a negative point of view I mean it from a reality point of view.

We can do good for others until we're blue in the face and the reality is we might not always get that back. And we have to be okay with that. We have to keep doing these good things for others not for what they're going to give back for us but for what it feels like for us to give that to them.

It's a really hard thing to digest. Trust me I know this. But never stop being you, because you're not getting validation from others. It's going to come back around. It really is. Karma is a real thing.

I know some people don't believe it but it really is. Just keep putting good out into the universe and into the world and keep following your path.

Every single person on the face of this Earth has a purpose. We all fit into a special spot that was created just for us ❤️

Love,
​Jennifer

Women’s bodies are complicated.  We are our own worst enemies.  
We can look at another woman and wish we had her “perfect” body, while the owner/occupant of that body secretly hates her __________ (fill in the blank).
We all have our thing. Almost every woman I know hates at least one part of her body.
For me it was my belly for years.  After having two babies 18 months apart, I still looked pregnant and would be crushed when someone exclaimed “Oh! You’re pregnant again!” My responses would vary depending on how I felt that day.  Sometimes it was a polite smile-not worth the conversation and sometimes it ended in tears-mine.  But over time, I’ve begun to love my belly.  It helped carry two babies, full term.  Resulting in two healthy babies.  
So for me, my least loved body part isn’t the most common reply to this question.
For me……it’s my knees.
Yup!  My knees.  What a silly part to be ashamed of.  To hide.  And hide I did.  
I went almost ten years without wearing shorts because I despised my knees.  
Almost ten brutal hot and humid Ontario summers spent in jeans or capris pants.
Sitting on the sidelines of many fun summer activities, family outings. 
Don’t even get me started on wearing a bathing suit.
Years of being uncomfortable.  Hot.  Sweaty.  Hiding.
But hiding from what?  
What I imagined others would say about my knees.  How stupid!
I’ve come to a few realizations after consuming A LOT of personal development books and podcasts.
1) What others think about me is none of my business.
2)They’re not even thinking about you! 
3)I am grateful for my healthy body as it is now.
Gratitude has helped me focus on all the things I can do with my knees.  
I can walk up and down stairs, hike, bike, swim, play tennis, volleyball and other sports I enjoy.  My knees are healthy and strong……for now.
A recent diagnosis of Muscular Dystrophy has reinforced my gratitude for my current state of health.  No one knows what the future holds and one day I may be unable to use my knees as I do now.
So however I think my knees look….they work.  And they work well.
So, bring on the summer heat. Bring on the shorts!

- Katie

Just like the title says, I meet the most INCREDIBLE people, thanks to Lady Luck. Words can not express how grateful I am!
This incredible human came to see me for some headshots a few weeks ago. 
We had a GREAT time. 

Having your photos taken can sometimes be stressful. So I like to make sure the experience is a SUPER FUN one! 

At first Leela was unsure of how to feel about having her photos taken. This is a very common feeling for most of my clients. And boy do I ever understand this feeling. 
After receiving her preview gallery, Leela sent me this:
"There are so many good photos - something I have NEVER said before about photos of me!"
I jumped out of my chair and did a happy dance after reading this. I can not tell you how happy this made me! :D

MAN I LOVE what I do!
​
I really wanted to take the opportunity to share with you all, more about this incredible woman and what she does, so I asked her to send me her bio so I could do just that!
Here is her bio and some of the photos we took on our day together!

Leela was born into a family that believed everyone needed to do their best to make the world a better place for all. She has depended on the wisdom of those ancestors and more recent mentors to develop a practice based on valuing each person's cultural and social wealth, honoring the earth on which we live, and working to acknowledge and rectify past wrongs committed in this world.
 
She has lived a life between cultures and countries, one of the few multiracial children born in 1960’s London (UK). She was taught she had a duty to work for justice and use what privilege she has for good. Leela immigrated with her family to Ontario in the 1970’s when “Where are you from” was one of the most common questions.  
 
For the past thirty years, she has worked on issues of equity and inclusion at universities in Canada and the United States. In March 2023, she was excited and privileged to be starting a new chapter with the opening of her independent consulting business. She looks forward to partnering with new people and institutions seeking to move their organizations beyond buzzwords to a holistic re-examination of their place in Canada today. It will require hard work, but in the words of Arundhati Roy “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
 
She loves to see these values reflected in her four children, now ages 22 through 29.
 
For more information: https://lmrconsulting.ca/

Thank you so much Leela for trusting me to do your photos for you! I am so glad I had the opportunity to spend time with you and I am so happy you like your photos!

​Jennifer

I never thought I would be ready to participate in a project like this. The thing is, I don’t always love the skin that I’m in. Doing these photos, participating in Jen’s very important and potentially life altering project, was a spur of the moment decision that I almost backed out of. I am very glad that I didn’t. At the same time, I don’t see myself this way all of the time. After a lifetime of putting this body down, acceptance is beyond difficult.

I have found it healing while on my journey recovering from depression to be a part of this project. When suffering from mental illness my struggle to turn self hate into self acceptance has been one of the largest battles I've faced, once I reached a point where I could function well enough to even consider doing so. I found that after years of unbearable depression that left me feeling nonhuman, immobile, at the bottom of a spiral that I felt had no end until I hit it and was literally unable to move or think or consider any options or ways to get out or make the feelings, or lack thereof, stop. After years of back and forth and fighting with my own mind, then came the anxiety.

Then came the neurotic thinking about what others thought of me. And as I was feeling a little bit better and trying to recover from the darkest place on earth, I couldn't help but worry constantly about what was going on around me. Why wouldn’t I hate myself when I constantly formulated terrible stories about how the world sees me?Fast forward many years. Feeling better feels amazing. It also causes guilt. Why wouldn’t I be working again if I’m feeling better? When will I be fully functioning?

​My family and friends are very loving when I express these concerns and tell me that this is all part of my recovery. But the stigma in society is there. “What do you do?” is a common question when meeting people and it is a loaded one for me. I often make a joke and hope they don’t persist but if it’s someone I want to meet again then my story usually comes out to some degree. I suppose it helps me weed out those individuals who are judgmental. Not caring what people think is something I still need to learn, in all regards.

And now, here I am posing for Jen. For myself. I look at these photos and I see the beauty of self acceptance. I wouldn't have been able to even entertain the idea of doing them, even just for myself, without it. My body bears the scars of a lifelong desire for an unattainable standard of beauty. The scars, stretch marks, and sagging skin are all the result of trying to attain an idea of perfection that I decided on back in grade nine. Standards I set when I was tired of being bullied about my weight and began my first battle with depression, body image and eating issues.
 
I have to credit self acceptance (and the help and kindness of innumerable professionals, friends and family) for the last couple of years of my life where I have made new friends and become so much less isolated. I certainly don’t accept everything. I am more accepting on some days, less on others. I accept that this body keeps me going. I’ve spent far too many years hating it, being angry with it for not living up to my standards. I try everyday not to do that. I try everyday to forget about those standards that are so very well ingrained. For so many years. A lifetime. Today, I am so happy to say, although I may not always fall into the category of “loving the skin I’m in”, I accept it and am happy with it more often than not. And that is probably the most monumental statement I have ever made.
Mollie