Fall colors: New Painting in Progress + plans for Halloween

I love fall with its psychotic explosion of color. The trees up here in Portland Oregon really go nuts this time of year glittering in golds, oranges, to neon pink in the howling wind. And its rubbing off on me thus inspiring my recent acrylic painting titled "Wind Spirit."
Let me fill you in on what I have done on this painting so far.
First off it was based on one of my most recent pen and ink illustrations:

I then used my "Tracer Art Projector" to transfer my pen and ink drawling onto a 14"x14" box frame gallery wrapped stretched canvas that I had painted my background color on.

In my last blog I had someone ask me to take a picture or a video clip of how I go about doing my "art projections" so here I give you a slightly manic 36 sec. crappy web cam video of my projection process.( terribly sorry about the quality)
Click HERE to view it on my flickr account.
Description of the image transfer process via art projector:
...I have a rinky-dink set up consisting of a "Tracer" art projector that I bought off of craigslist for $20. Here I use a djembe drum with a thick book ontop to serve as a platform to put my print to be transferred + my art projector. I then turn the projector on, spend some time lining up the projected image correctly with the painted canvas. Once I have the projection where I want it I use my Faber castell India ink pens to trace over the projection.
After I am done with my projection I am left with the black outlines to begin to fill in with my color layers and highlights.

here is what my painting looks like after the first laying down of color/highlights( not finished!)

Over this past weekend I did more work to it so I will have to take a new process picture soon before I finish the painting.
As you can see im enjoying our pumpkins.
Danny and I plan on carving them tomorrow. On Thursday we will be doing the last art fair of the year before the season is over. We will be at Last Thursday Artwalk on Alberta St Oct. 29th around Alberta st and 20th with a full booth of art for sale + I will be doing face and body painting and we will have our jack o lanterns aglow infront of our booth! Should be fun, I will be decked out in costume and so will danny. Come visit us if you are in the area.
After Thursday we will be scrambling on Friday to get our car ready for our camping trip down in Wolf Creek Oregon on the Radical faerie sanctuary. We will be visiting our dear friends Randy and Tim whom we have not seen in a long time. I now have a tent so danny and I wont have to sleep in our car- yippiie! I will be bringing my face paint. My friend Randy Wonder Tooth has agreed to let me paint him from head to toe as the 'Green Man', I cant wait! On Sunday the sanctuary will be honoring Samhain with a ritual. It sounds like its going to be a lovely couple of days. We will leave Sunday evening to get home in time to grab a few ZZs before I have to head off for work on Monday.
So thats our plans for this years Halloween experience.
In Portland the air has already grown pretty cold. Its 9:00am right now and its super dark outside, pouring rain with howling winds. Im watching it all from my window, cozy with a big cup of Chamomile tea.
I hope everyone is enjoying this season before winter gets here and the trees are all naked!
Much love always,
-Chelsea Rose
www.chelsearoseart.com
Read More

some of my Photography + a recent Poem

This week has been rather uneventfull as far as creating artwork goes. I managed to finish the main color changes I had hoped to make on my "Posy Nymph" acrylic painting. Now I have to get in there and tighten up a few things + paint the sides of the canvas and varnish( hoping to get this done over the weekend!) After all that is done I will take pictures and post the finished product.

I have really been itching to do some photography lately especially involving full body paintings. Its proved extremely difficult for me to find righteous women of beauty and strength whom would be willing to take artistic nudes, their bodies painted from head to toe by me. I have found some lovelies that are more then willing but our schedules refuse to mesh up. Ah well, it will manifest when the time is right. In the meantime I have been taking a look back at some of my old photography which I did with a really crappy 3.2 mega pixel camera when I was still in High School. And to tell you the truth I almost miss that piece of crap point and shoot. It was very versatile and allowed me to do a lot of self portrait work as well. When I saved up and bought my Digital SLR camera it was a good move but I feel it changed the look and feel of my photography somewhat.
But I have been looking back on some of my old work and getting really inspired to do some new photography. here are a few of my old photographs that I have rediscovered:



would really love to do some more work with dark skinned subjects. There is something about the way that dark skin can capture and highlight colors in the enviroment- almost like an abalone shell.


Looks like this might have been my first attempt at a body painting session. My friend/subject here allowed me to draw on her chest with a sharpie marker! The paint used for the face here is acrylic. This was done back in the day when I was still in high school and did not yet know the awesome benefits of face and body paint! I really cant wait to try my hand once again with this sort of swirly/whimsy body paint adornment and then combine with photography.


I used to do a lot of self portrait work. I have always loved playing dress up. so it was natural for me to in moments of reverie rip off my mundane clothes, dive into my costume bag and paint up my face extravagantly. This process produced some intense self portrait work. I say self portrait work but when I was taking these photos of myself I did not view it as such because I was not trying to be/ or capture myself in the photos. I felt I was channeling/capturing other beings and presenting them in digital film format.


Here is another self portrait. Id really love to do more of these but now that I work with my digital SLR camera its almost impossible to do self portrait work even with a tri-pod/self timer.
So perhaps I will be scowering ebay for an old crappy digital point and shoot camera. they have got to be cheap these days!
I really truly feel a good photograph is a good photograph no matter if it came from a fancy shamncy camera or a throw away point and shoot.
------
In other news, not only have i been hungry to do some new photography work but I have begun to rekindle my need to express via the written word. Poetry has always been a sacred thing to me. I wrote much more earlier in life and recently have been too focused on pen and ink illustration and painting to do much writing. I have made an effort to change that, thanks to some much needed encouragement( thanks Marius!).
Here is a recent spasm of words:

Wondering snake of the great deluge
eat my plum face till my cowering core runs white with static.
For these dry racking winds hold my water in sweltering embassy
and I wait for the ground to quiver and gleam.
In this half light my eyes are untold in crooked shame,
my flesh a pitted gourd that’s spelled to foam
while the sea is down, laid crumpled like an old crown,
the tides seeping in ringlets of wrinkle like spilt thread.
You must hold your breath and echo in lotus leaf blades,
cooing the seed that trembles with the voice of sunlight.
Only then will the trumpet flower raise its head,
a noble amidst a land of burden and spent inertia.
The moons will bow, all borrowing pieces of inky black heavens,
spinning the remnants into growling pits of riddled meat
made to suckle and sup in this grinding maze of rapture.
And I will bare this reaper. It’s head a molten shield of veils in turbulent dowry,
a single rupture in the beveled material of dirt and spit,
baring in its hoofed groves of oak an olden key,
a nimble pill of chance blooming ripe in settings undone.
Wait till the first light comes with the rhythm of wings.
You will know it as a fathom of deep flushed feather,
that howls in chorused reverberation.
And old nature will answer as a shell, spent and splintered,
embedding in our palms as thorns,
piercing the locks in our muddy veins till the flood begets us anew.
Read More

My new artist portfolio website is up! plus painting news

So, I am really excited...Danny made me my own personal artist web portfolio!
The man really does have some mad design skills, and I get to reap the benefits!
.... I am truly a spoiled brat.
check the website out for yourself ChelseaRoseArt.com
...I did take some screen shots:


This is the home/landing page.
For the website borders( the flowery vine stuff) danny had printed out basic guidelines to the way the webpages would be layed out. He then had me draw/doodle around the boarders with my India ink pens. Once i was done he scanned in my drawings and used my doodles to create all the main frames/boarders of the site. i really love the personal touch/whimsy vibe the hand drawn boarders brought to the site.



This is a screen shot of the Paintings gallery. This is the same format used for the rest of the galleries including the "about" page as well. You click the thumbnails on the left and the corresponding art piece pops up in the main window.
....so now i have to get business cards printed up so i can put my fancy sleek website on the back!
Big thanks to my love Danny.
He is certainly a jack of many trades: an amazing photographer, illustrator, designer, photo retoucher, musician, poetry writer and much more.
Yes, he is available for commissions. Please feel free to contact him: danny@lucidopticlab.com for all your design, website, photography, photo editing/retouching needs.
-----
In other news:
Im almost done with this "Posy Nymph" faery painting.
and i thought i would give you a lil glimps into my cozy home studio space.

I am not done yet. im still trying to come up with a better color scheme for the scale crown part just above her third eye jewel. I am thinking perhaps a lighter color palette would work better. maybe lavender? not sure yet i will have to experiment a bit more with this one.

I am really not a fan of pink. This was the first time i have used pink as a background color for one of my paintings. So i struggled with this piece some. I feel I have made peace with it however and i do hope the color combos comes across harmoniously. I only have an hour or two worth of work left on this piece so hopefully i will find some time within the week to get it done and then i will take photos of the finished painting.
so another update is soon to come.
till then, best wishes and many blessings,
-Chelsea Rose
Read More

Saturday musings, news and blog awards

First of all I would like to hip you guys to the fact that i was featured by Megan on her blog Studio M.M.E with a full artist interview! click to see my feature Here

Also, Megan presented me with a "Honest Scrap Award"

Here are the rules:

Share “10 Honest Things” about myself and present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.

My answers:

1. I believe in faeries.

2. I love to write poetry even though I rarely show anyone my writings anymore. I am currently attempting to write a fiction novel.

3. Sometimes I feel I am a 80+ year old woman trapped in a 22year olds body. When I am not at work( currently working as a part time Admin Assistant for a small IT management company in Oregon. Funny huh?) I tend to be a hermit, painting, drinking tea and hangin out with Danny and my cat all day + I am usually asleep before 10:00pm(unless there is something worth staying up to behold/partake) and cant ever seem to sleep in anymore past 7:00am

4. I can be a bit of an air head…I have a terrible memory. I swear I am already suffering symptoms of dementia!

5. I have always sketched and painted the same subject. My family laughs about how when I was a little girl I was already drawing nothing but big breasted mermaids.

6. I’m horribly terrible at math and spelling. In elementary school I was diagnosed with learning disabilities and was in a resource group for a year or two. I was late to learn to read and write, yet in high school I was the top of my class in English. I love creative writing. reading is one of my most prized leisure’s. but I will always loath math, no matter what.

7. I am a storyteller by nature and thus I tend to over exaggerate things at times.

8. worst fears: spiders, western medicine, roller coasters, and I really really cant stand gore. even if its cartoon gore.

9. I love tea, cheesecake and sushi. I would live off that stuff for the rest of my life if I could.

10. I am fascinated by all things paranormal. I feel this fascination may be ever present in my life based on some strange encounters that I had as a child and young adult.

I here by present this Award to 7 bloggers I love: Feral Eyes Varietist Muse Brett is a Blog Drawing-Shmawing Johanna Ost The Organic Sister Mealy Monster Land

Also, to follow up with my last blog and the question i asked: which of my recent drawings should i turn into a painting? The majority of people voted for my pen and ink drawing "posy nymph"

So i went ahead and began to paint her. This is what i have done so far:

So here is where i painted the background. Once that was dry i took my lil art projector out and projected my pen and ink drawing onto the canvas. I traced the basic outlines and then went over the lines till they were crisp.

....Then i began to put my first layers of color:

It has been a busy few weeks so i have not been able to work on this piece as much as i would have liked to. So i am hoping for some time this weekend to do some more color layering. I will have danny help me out with pictures, hopefully!

....in the mean time here are some random pictures i found that made me smile.

Me and my Sushi kitty cat. We dont have many pictures together so this is special.

.....also i found a great shot of our Jack O Lanterns we carved from last year:

....i do believe fall is my fave time of the year up here in Portland Oregon. The trees have begun to change colors and drop their leaves. in a few weeks my world will be busting full of october color. im looking forward to it very much.

.....till next time!

-Chelsea Rose

Read More

new Pen and Ink illustration!

Happy Friday everyone.
I am really looking forward to this weekend because i am itching for the time to do some painting! Unfortunately i have not done much painting at all ever since the prep for my solo gallery show in September. I started back up again last night by prepping an 18x24 canvas for a new painting based of some of my most recent pen and ink drawings. So far i have the background color painted. Now i need to project one of my illustrations onto the surface, trace the outlines and begin to fill with lots of color!
...here are the pen and inks i am considering using as a basis for the new painting.
let me know if you like a certain one and think i should paint it on this prepped 18x24 canvas that i have, as i am still undecided on what to paint on it!

" Queen of the Bog Lilly"
original pen and Ink drawing
by Chelsea Rose


"Air Spirit"
original pen and ink drawing
by Chelsea Rose


"Posy Nymph"
original pen and ink drawing
by Chelsea Rose


"Trinity"
original pen and ink drawing
by Chelsea Rose


"Harpy"
original pen and ink drawing
by Chelsea Rose

So, which one do you suppose i should do? Or perhaps do you have another one of my pen and ink illustrations in mind, one that i have yet to paint in acrylic color?( to find more of my pen and ink work visit here) For this painting im hoping to document the process of creation so there will be creative process pictures soon on the way!

Strangely enough, i have been super busy with doing tuns of tie-dye. Danny and i started doing the local Cedar Mill Farmers market on Saturday mornings and have been doing very well there! Each week we have to do another big batch of tie-dye to replenish our stock. The shirts and dresses are going so quick we cant even find the time to photograph them! But the season seems to be coming to an end now that autumn has descended, the rain is back and winter is not too far to follow. We are trying our best to squeeze as much farmers market days in while we can. So wish us luck for tomorrow. We will be out there slinging tie-dye rain or shine( and its predicted to rain!)

Unfortunately in the midst of everything else thats been going on, it seems that we have been neglecting our etsy shop. Have no fear, i renewed a bunch of expired listings and added some more screen print attire and art prints to the mix!
and there is more to come so stay tuned!

Many blessings,
-Chelsea Rose
Read More