My Art Show Postcard and Recap on Artwalk on Alberta

So last week on Wednesday Tiffany Ruth came by my place to drop off the printed Postcards for my Solo Show. Check it out:


....The date keeps getting closer and closer. So far i have 5 new smaller pieces done for the show. I have 3 more to go and then i will have everything ready. I should take some progress pictures soon to show all the painting i have been doing!

I think i am finally recovered from Last Thursday Art walk on Alberta St Aug 09. It was one intense day and night. I took off early from work, so danny and I made it to Alberta st around 2:30pm. My dearful friend Shauna Mama( who makes the most amazing organic herbal soap in the world!!) saved us an amazing spot in the main vein of the artwalk: 20th and Alberta on the grassy lot area where all the crazyness happends.

Here is a close up snap shot of my table display:

If you look closely at this photo you will see i had a box full of my Solo art show post cards free for the taking Also, see the little wicker basket full of free stickers that we printed at home. Its really great how people's faces light up over the idea of free stickers!

It was a hot sticky day so i tried my best to stay under the cover of our canopy to avoid a sunburn. During that time danny and i sat in our booth playing drums with others that drifted in an out. at one point in our booth i was drummin on our dejembe drum, another guy with a drum had wondered in and then there came a man with a flute and we made some beautiful melodies for awhile!
At one point, as i was strolling around looking for something to drink on the hot day i was hit with a pleasant realization- we were spack dab center in a little rainbow gathering packed into one block/lot with all the expected accurtraments: a tent/art booth city where people were giving away free tea, making organic pizza for the public, freeform roaming drum circles, swapping/barter circles, gypsy caravans full of musical mischief and love and much much more. it certainly may have been the highlight of summer thus far. i can only hope that my show comes anywhere close with such high positive energy.
here are a few shots of our booth during the night:

(photo courtesy Shauna Mama)




(photo courtesy of Shauna Mama)
As soon as the sun went down the art walk seemed to suddenly burst with energy and activity. We did better this day then any other fair yet! And by the end of the night im happy to say that all 150 of my art show postcard/flyers were gone! I met so many wonderfully interesting, amazing and supportive people during that night. This artwalk certainly may have been the highlight of summer thus far. i can only hope that my show comes anywhere close with such high positive energy.

.....cant wait for the next Last Thursday art walk on Alberta St!
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Solo Gallery show UPDATE and new Watercolor paintings

I'm super excited to officially announce:



If you are in the area( Portland Oregon) come visit me on September 18th at T.Ruth Artspace and take part in my opening art gallery reception: there will be plenty of trippy psychedelic paintings to behold as you sip wine and enjoy these last moments of blissful summer. This will be my first solo gallery show ever....so support will be ever so much appreciated.

Danny designed this little flyer for my upcoming show using my painting "The Faery Guide". However the design was rejected by the local publications for the naked faerie breast. I guess In Portland naked bike rides are OK, but not naked faerie paintings. We are still going to print this flyer at home and do the some xeroxing and Guerrilla distribution. As for the official postcard flyer, we redesigned everything to a classic invitation layout and went with my "River Spirit" painting(3 eyed fish) for the image. From what i understand we should have the official postcard flyers all finished and printed this week, so i will scan the finished product and "show and tell" when all is ready!

...im still working like mad to produce a few more smaller pieces for the show. At the moment i will have about 9 of my larger pieces showing and about 6+ smaller pieces in between. The gallery is a bit snug, but super charming- so i think i have plenty of material to pack the joint. cant wait to see how it all turns out! And for those of you who can not make it, no worries- i will take some photos ; )

In other news, I finally bought some more water color paper so i was inspired to brake out the paints! Its been a very long time since i have dabbled with water color- i almost forgot how much fun this medium is. Its been a wonderful thing, being able to play with WC after working with acrylic for so long- a much needed change.

Here are some of my WC experiments:

In Full Bloom
9"x12" Original watercolor painting
by Chelsea Rose


Evening Gown
9"x12" original watercolor painting
by Chelsea Rose

- Both of these were done on the same day. On a recent Saturday morning i was woken up at 6:20 sharp by my faithful-super obnoxious and fuzzy alarm - my cat, Sushi. I went into the living room, put on a movie and was getting ready to doze back asleep curled up on the couch when i remembered something exciting. A few days ago I had purchased some watercolor paper and have been forced to ignore it because of all the other projects i have to get done. I was certainly swept up in a good bit of reverie as i hurriedly hunted for my watercolor paint storage box. It took some digging to find it, and then i spent the rest of the morning in complete meditation: myself and my watercolor.

The next day i painted this one:


Sweet Water Gem
9"x12" original watercolor painting
by Chelsea Rose

I started it out with a quick pencil sketch to get the outlines down. I then did a wash for the background from blue to green( sprinkled some salt for a tad bit of texture)- once that was dry i began going into the eyes and the scales. Slowly adding shadow and more and more color.
The last thing i did was use my new super fat Faber castell india ink brush pens( compliment of Mr. Wonder Randy Tooth for my birthday. thank you!) to go and do some black outlining of the main shapes of the piece.

I got some positive feedback on these pieces when i put them up on my flickr page which was encouraging since these were certainly experimental and rough since i have been away from the medium for so long. In my watercolor storage bin i have a couple different brands of tube watercolors-some super fine quality ones that i purchased on sale when i was working for Art Supply Warehouse, but strangely enough i totally bypassed those tubes and went straight for my dirty old Prang watercolor set( do you remember prang? its what they used to give us in public school to use.) And i was pleasantly surprised with how vibrant the Prang paint ended up being. It just goes to show its really not that important how fancy and nice your materials are- as long as your able to express yourself and produce work from the heart!

In other news-
Yesterday Danny and I went to go see Karah, an artist friend of mine, at a place called The Manor of Art, Milepost 5 where she had participated in a huge art show featuring 100 artists- but with an interesting twist: They had taken over a yet to be renovated old folks home( built in the early 20s and has been used for many different purposed over the years)- every artist was assigned a room and aloud to make it into one big piece of artwork. As danny and i walked around this trippy(slightly spooky) building- we were awed as we journeyed the three floors and wandered in and out of all 100 rooms that really felt more like mini parallel universe. karahs room was super wonderful- she had taken large square cuts of green grass and tiled them in the room to create an rather earthy carpet. She displayed her pottery pieces( interesting plant holders that remind me of honey combs and mushrooms at the same time) while a friend of hers did elaborate hypnotic pen and ink drawings + fabric and flower creations on the walls.

It would be impossible to accurately describe the various scenes we walked into last evening but i can try- there was one room where someone had built up a wooden shooting gallery( like the ones you see at carnivals) where he crudely arranged pictures of Bush, Obama, Cheney, Micheal Jackson and more + beer bottles, cans- there was a Bebe gun wired to the booth- which you used to take shots at it all. it was wondrous fun. This art show is so hard to describe because it was sooo far out there. I loved it to death and went home bursting full of inspiration.

Whats also very interesting about The Manor of Art, Milepost 5 - they will be turning all of those rooms, once renovated, into super cheap/affordable artist studios. Right now they already have a live on/art studio thing going on made specially for the starving artist, or art student. There are some rooms that are fully equipped with room, sink, shower and all- others are simply rooms and down the halls are community bathrooms. They have a community kitchen, a wonderful courtyard with stage and more.

Im so glad Karah invited me to come and behold such a trippy/super awe inspiring art project. Im also very happy to know about The Manor of Art- it warms the heart to know that places like this do infact exist.

So thats all the latest news. Stay tuned- there is more to come.

Much love to all,
-Chelsea Rose
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more and more TIE DYE and Birthday news

This weekend was amazing. The 15th was my 22nd birthday and i had such a lovely time. Needless to say, this birthday was much more pleasant then the last one when last year i was laying in bed in complete shock and agony after being rear ended by a spreading freight truck on the freeway! An experience like that really makes you realize how precious and fragile life can be and that lil bit of perspective was in its self a gift. But...while this year's birthday was much more mellow and less tragic, it also refreshed my gratefulness for life. When caught up in the hustle and bustle of the daily drudge one can loose their grip on the good honest truth of things- the wealth of love and greatness that fills each day. Im lucky to be here, alive and well with such great friends and family to look after me! Thanks everyone for all the birthday blessings.

I do have some more tie-dye to share. Take a look at what we listed in our online shop over the weekend:

Blue Bell Tie- Dye Sundress:


one of a kind Medium(M) 100% cotton hand tie dyed sundress!
chest: 36"
...its super sweet and comfy- perfect for a lovely summer day in the garden, on a forest trail, strolling down to the beach, checking out the farmers market and more!
For more info or to purchase click here

Purple Spider Tie-dye shirt:

Here is Danny modeling "Purple Spider" Tie-dye shirt.
a Unisex shirt with flare.
for purple lovers everywhere!!( its my favorite color, don't you know?)
hand tie-dyed with lots of love!
100% cotton sleeve crew neck shirt- size M( 38-40)
available to purchase here

Ploy Pink Tie-Dye shirt:



Ploy Pink tie-dye shirt
Hand tie-dyed with lots of love
55% cotton/45% polyester
woman's short sleeve shirt size Medium
Bust= 38"
Danny and i really dig the way the colors came out kinda like sherbet. Its a nice muted tie-dye perfect for the tie-dye enthusiast who likes to wear more mellow tones.
click here to view/purchase


Orb Forest Tie-Dye Hoodie:


I feel that this is certainly one of the most lovely of all tie-dye pieces my hands have ever created. It sold the first night we put it up in the shop to one of my dear internet soul friendlies and best customers. This makes me happy- knowing this piece of art will be going to such appreciating hands. Its a shame i had only found one of this nice V neck hoodie- i would have liked to make a batch of a few different sized pieces. but alas- as is with all my tie-dye: its a one of a kind find and cant be replicated!
So fare thee will Orb Forest Hoddie- you shall be shipped today to your new home!

Thats if for new Tie-Dye highlights, but we still have more to post from this batch so keep an eye on our shop for new listings!

In other news...over the weekend i broke out my water colors, finally! Its been a long time since i have played around with them- its a nice break from all the acrylic painting i have been doing lately. I have three fun lil pieces i did yesterday that i will be scanning and sharing with you soon!

My solo gallery show finally has an oficial date: September 18th! T.Ruth Artspace! cant wait! we are only a few steps away from having the postcards/flyers ready so stay tuned.

Much love and best wishes, always!
-Chelsea Rose
Lucid Optic Lab.com
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Summer Tie-Dye

I write this baring news of a new batch of tie-dye Danny and i completed the other weekend. So far we have listed 4 new long sleeve tie-dye pieces that are sure to be loved! Available now in our online shop in the tie-dye section for a very thrifty price!

Let us start out with "Cosmic Berry" tie-dye shirt:

(photography courtesy of Danny's creative photographic eye and abilities!)

Its a youth's large/ adult small.
100% cotton long sleeve t-shirt dyed with procion mx teal, purple, and magenta dye
This is one of our favorites from the new batch!
for more info, pictures and to purchase click here

Another tie-dye jewel:"Sash"


This one is super vibrant with its bright red and teal. The red sash comes all the way around connecting at a nice angle at the side, hip with an interesting vertebra pattern within its middle.
of course this baby was hand dyed with lots of love
its a 100% cotton woman's Large long sleeve shirt
... available for purchase here

And this one is called "Purple Thunder":


a nice 100% cotton, slightly ribbed fabric with an elegant v neck button up collar
woman's size medium in lovley colors of dark purple and teal!
click here to see our online shop listing for more pictures and info!

And last, but certainly not least: "Purple Midnight"


Purple Midnight is another sash pattern variation with the most soothing of colors: cobalt blue and raspberry dye( creating a lovely harmony together). This one is perfect for the lover of tie-dye who doesn't always like to wear jarring colors.
This piece was also hand tie-dyed with lots of love, like all our tie dye!
its 100% cotton long sleeve woman's small shirt and available for purchase in our online shop

...and you can tell you that there is certainly more where that came from! Every day i intend to list a new tie-dye piece from our latest batch so stay tuned and see what pops up next.

Recently i was in Target for some odd reason and i happened to walk by a clothing rack in the woman's department that was full with dozens of identical tie-dye shirts. Same pattern, same colors, same details- it was errie. Upon closer inspection i realized that these tie dyes were not tie-dye at all but machine printed! can you imagine my horror? After all, tie dye is charming because its made one of a kind, no two identical, hand made by happy creative hands. Who could possibly wear a machine fabricated tie-dye and feel good about it?
Its soullessness, thats what it is!
As one can most probably tell, i felt deeply offended and left the store. So mark my words: Beware of the machine made souless tie dye!
Make it a point to buy tie-dye from your local entrepreneurs. I cant stress enough how crucial it is to remember how important hand made artisan art and craft is to humanity. I know right now in this world, where so much is being mass produced, it is sometimes very hard to find something tenderly and happily hand made and local but we must strive to keep craft, art and community alive and the best way to do that is by supporting it!
It is also important as a consumer to realize that by buying handmade goods from individual artists instead of mass produced goods from corporations one is effecting major positivity in the world around them.

So, a big hug and a big thanks for hand made, art and craft supporters! We couldn't do it without you.

Peace n Love!
-Chelsea Rose
Lucid Optic Lab.com
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Inspiration Friday-Amazing artists

Let us begin with a quote on inspiration:
"It is the dark song in the gypsy soul, the black light that enflames the canvas, the spark that enlarges the heart."
-a line from the book: Stoking the Creative Fires by Phil Cousinaeu. I was given this book yesterday by my guardian art angel of Oregon, Tiffany Ruth. I started reading this book today on my morning bus ride to work and was captivated by that line because it is a good piece of TRUTH.

I would like to start out with an artist i first found out about through flickr:
Brett Manning

One of her most recent pieces that i have fallen in love with:

titled "Time does not Exist"-ink and colored pencil, 11x14.
I love the way she works with ink and pencil-its practically a spiritual experience! I do feel her work is very shamanic in that it speaks to me about the ongoing battle between the world of man and man made vs the world of nature and the spirit path. It is not often that a piece of work can send chills down my spine but her illustrations are very iconic i feel for the present times, this age and its conflicts. To see more of her stuff visit her website or read her awesome blog! Oh, and she does a great job merchandising- check out her online shop!
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another breathtaking artist that i found on flickr.com:
Lady Orlando

"I'm not an artist, a painter, a singer, a photographer, a poet, a human, a child, a man, a woman, a cat, animal, mineral, vegetal, a ghost or a dream.

I'm not nothing of this and I am all."
-Lady Orlando


this piece is titled "Alchemy "- a mixed media illustration by Lady Orlando that i feel captures the essence of the divine/cosmic energy of creation- the spark that flames and fumes - forever changing the one who channels it into new form.
Lady Orlando does a lot of her work within drawing journals.
Her character and creatures fascinate me. i love the way she seems to create them with a good measure of culture- it feels very folk and so very very whimsy. delicious.
To view more of her work please visit here
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Another cherished artist:Michelle Mia Araujo


"Across the Nile"
16x20" (23"x27" framed)
Acrylic on wood
....as you can see her acrylic paintings are like poems- full with strings of enchanting images that create endless interest and revelation/metaphor. I love how her work is so smooth almost like cream with an intensely bewitching glow. Each new piece she puts out i gobble up with my eyes- i could spend hours viewing her pieces, gazing upon them and seeing something new each moment. and there is a rule with this artist- you MUST view her work in its largest size so that you can better appreciate the ornate loveliness. to see more of her work please visit her flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/miaillustration
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...and you know I have come to feel that i talk entirely way too much about myself within this blog. There are so many amazing artists that lite my fire- i have so much to say in regard to them, so perhaps every Friday or so i will begin doing these inspirational artist blog posts in hopes of helping get this enchanting artwork out unto new audiences where they can continue to ignite peoples souls and quicken thirsty hearts!

So those are just a few of the Artists that hold the power to quicken my heart and send me running for my paint brush!

Id like to thank all of them for creating and sharing their visions, their unique cosmic truths via such bewitching artworks!

Much love, always...
-Chelsea Rose
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Lucid Update

So, its August now and our July Summer Sale has commenced. Thanks so much for the support everyone- your purchases went a long way in helping fund for more art supplies which is always a real need 'round here! Along with August comes my birthday. I will be 22 years old on the 15th. I don't have any special plans- just to quietly rejoice and appreciate life( i know, im so boring). I am hoping to be super busy this month- pumping out new paintings to display along with my others come September for my first solo gallery show. I'm starting to get a lil nervous! Which is good- its lit a fire under my bum.

Here is a snapshot of a new painting i finished a couple days ago:

At the moment its titled "River Spirit."
18" x 24" acrylic on stretched canvas.
I believe I am ready to varnish it and then i will have to ask Danny to help me take better quality pictures of it.
I would have been finished with this painting weeks ago had it not been for the 10 day heat wave that had me trapped in my tiny bedroom with all the shades drawn and our lil ac going. My studio is set up in the living room of our apartment and it was so hot in that room that my paint would dry to my pallet as i mixed. Not to mention i am a complete wimp when it comes to heat and that i suffer from dehydration and heatstroke at the drop of the hat. i think my blood would much prefer an existence on some cold misty rock in Ireland- as my ancestry speaks-as well as my pale skin testifys- refusing to tan but breaks into lobster red after 10 mins in the sun.
ah well.

The other day i posted a new item in our online shop:
Presenting "The Green Man" print in green on a white T-shirt.

Original Illustration by Chelsea Rose

Sizes available: Medium and XL

available for $20 + shipping here

This illustration was originaly drawn for a dear friend of mine for a trade. He asked me to paint him a painting of "the Green Man" in exchange for him doing my first tattoo. I really love the way "the Green Man" turned out and it has only be just recently that i started printing the illustration on 5"x7" cards and doing t-shirts.

Onto other news:
Over this past weekend Danny and i managed to whip up a monstrous load of tie-dye, which will be done washing by today- so we will be taking pictures soon and posting them up in our online store. We also intend on doing some of the local farmers markets for the next couple of weeks to see how much of the tie-dye we can get rid of. I love farmers markets and its always a pleasure to get out there and meet the community in such a way- especially meeting the local farmers whom i have much respect for. Someday id love to be a producer of my own foods- its amazing what a lil soil, seed and water can do.

I do hope everyone is enjoying this summer- i fear winter may be harsh again since we have had so much heat in this season. But i can already say( and I never thought id say this last year when we had 4 feet of it but...) im dreaming of snow!

Much love to all!
-Chelsea Rose
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