In the past few years, I’ve learned to grab my opportunities when they come along and not let them slip past. this often takes a LOT of guts and I thank my high school drama teacher John Whitman every time I have to stand up in public and be brave. I first noticed this 6 foot tall gorgeous creature when we were crammed into the London Tube together. I grabbed my nerve and asked her if she would step off and pose for some photos. She said sure! It turns out Anna Kompaniets was off to work for Vivian Westwood that day, was a student at Goldsmiths College in art textiles and was Russian. Gee, so many links to my own passions and history. I went to Goldsmiths in 1982, 1983 and used Pavelka, the Russian version of Paula as my art name for over 20 years.

I took a bunch of photos and played around with them in Picasa before I got into Photoshop (and eventually learnt more about image resolution…) She is into makeup, jewelry, staging and all kinds of wonderfully creative things.

This is from Anna’s recent grad show at Goldsmiths(not my photo) and that’s her in the blue wig. We wish her all the best wherever her many talents and passions take her. Check out her site. I love looking in on her from afar via Facebook as we are definitely sisters under the skin with a love of color, costume and drama. I do what I can to keep up the fancy dress but this is going all the way. I LOVE it!

Published on: Jul 3, 2010