Mega Update: New Watercolor paintings, Artwalk photos, henna dread details

So i have some catching up to do seeing that i have not posted anything since the 20th!
First off i wanted to share some watercolor painting i did over the weekend which are all now available for sale in our etsy shop :


Faery ah Glow
4" x 6"
original watercolor painting by Chelsea Rose
On sale for $60. Check out the sale listing HERE.


Harpy in Moonlight
4" x 6"
original watercolor painting by Chelsea Rose
On sale for $60. Check out the sale listing HERE.


Fish of Perception
4" x 6"
original watercolor painting by Chelsea Rose
On sale for $60. Check out the sale listing HERE.


Conversation with a Pixie
4"x6"
Original watercolor painting by Chelsea Rose
On extra sale for $50. See the sale listing HERE.

And some snapshots danny took of me working on these:

as you can see i took over the dining room table with my watercolor supplies!


Honestly i had been itching to play with watercolor ever since i sold one of my originals- talk about inspiration and encouragement!

In other news- we must now backtrack to Thursday the 26th which was the Last Thursday Artwalk on Alberta st for August:

This was our booth set up. As always we were selling original art, silkscreen prints, tie dye and more.

I painted my face up in hopes to entice some souls to have their own faces/bodies painted by me for a few bucks:

(photo by Bert Steele )
...and so it did attract quite a few moms and their kids to have their faces painted:

and all was well and super fun until the unthinkable happened....Wells Fargo set up a table to "sign up accounts" right next to us!!! I was truly outraged by this and confronted them about it. I pretty much said that i was very uncomfortable with their presence at what is supposed to be a community based independent artwork festival. I hope i made my disgust known enough for them to think twice about setting up again. This may be a sign that its the beginning of the end for the Alberta arts festivals but i am determined to not be too disheartened. We will see how it goes for September's last Thursday art walk.

...Oh and for those who are wondering why my dreads are suddenly red- i colored it with Henna( all natural plant based hair coloring!)
The process was pretty messy and looked something like this:

but i had fun making the mess as always and the henna was so soothing and healing for my scalp.
The color change was pretty dramatic as you can see- but i love it! Change is good.

Danny has been super busy finsing these huge screens for a Buddha silkscreen/marbling project he has in the works:

As you can see- he is all done with the three screens needed to make up his 3 color Buddha print. Instead of using the photo emulsion method of creating these silkscreens he hand painted them with drawing fluid. The next step is getting all his supplies ready to begin marbling big sheets of paper that he will then print the buddha onto. i cant wait to see the outcome but we have to wait awhile and let the $$ come in so that he can purchase all the supplies.



a quick snap of Danny and I over the weekend. We spent a good amount of time hanging out on the patio, conversing and drinkin tea.
I hope every one's weekend went well.

more updates coming soon.

Best wishes,
-Chelsea Rose
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Body Painting Commission Photos and Original Watercolor Paintings for sale!

It proved to be a fairly mellow week with some much better behaved weather that did not leave my brain melted into a puddle between my feet.
On Tuesday Danny and I drove out to Scholl Oregon to meet a photographer and his pregnant model for a body painting commission.
The photographer was hoping for a somewhat "earth mama" vibed body painting since he intended to photograph the maternity shoot amongst Oregon's lush greenery.
While i worked Danny took some photos of the process:

As seen in the above photo i started the body painting by blocking out some color and then going into it to create detail and shape in order to create flowers.

The flowers were inspired by the big "dinner plate Dahlia" flowers.


The lotus was a fun addition with its roots delving into a very mysterious eye. I liked the back piece the best.
With this body painting i was trying to part ways a bit from the body painting style i have been using for my women's study body painting seires. I want to keep that look of mine soly under my name in hopes that my project will remain consistent and easily recognizable.
...Anyhow i am interested to see photos from the photographer and i will share a few with his permission on the blog when he does come out with them.

Just yesterday i decided to list more of my original watercolor paintings for sale in my etsy shop so i now pleased to announce that the following three have made it into the shop and are available for purchase:


Goddess In Full Bloom
9" x 12" watercolor painting on watercolor paper
by Chelsea Rose
Priced at $100
click here for the sale listing.


Evening Gown
9" x 12"
Original watercolor painting on watercolor paper
by Chelsea Rose
Priced at $100
Click here for the sale listing.

and also:

Sweet Water Gem
9" x 12"
original watercolor painting
by Chelsea Rose
Priced at $100
Click here for the sale listing.

....i will be listing 4 more watercolor paintings for sale in the etsy shop very soon!

Otherwise, summer continues to beat its drum and my morning glory flowers are blooming in a fever!


....and this pleases me :)

Danny got our basil clippings to begin rooting in some of my antique bottles:

...so as of yesterday they have been happily potted on the patio.
I love the way the basil smells in the morning and i am greatly anticipating some of danny's home made pesto made from our home grown plant!

And here is a look at a goofy pic i took of myself the other day when i was playing around with my locs:

I enjoyed this style because it reminded me of the hair of my current mermaid painting that i am working on:

see?
:P
I ordered some Henna dye for my dready tendrils just the other day so if the powder arrives today or tomorrow I may end up with "Irish red" locs for Monday. we shall see!
Otherwise, as far as this weekend goes i am pleased to say there are no "big plans." I hope to enjoy, relax and get a bunch of work done on my mermaid painting. wish me luck!

Best wishes and much love,
-Chelsea Rose

P.S.
I am happy to share that my body painting work has been featured in Eva Beyond Reason's blog. Click here to check it out!
Eva, thanks so much for your kindness and support- it means a lot!
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Weekend Projects and Play- mermaid painting, silkscreen creation

Twas a relaxing birthday weekend at home spent hanging out on the patio and working on art projects in the morning while it was cool- then movie watching marathon + lots of naps in the A/C bedroom now deemed "the cave"- as the days got super hot.

I got more work done on my mermaid painting:

I darkened the ocean a lot more so that i could make the bubbles more glowy. Also added some new bubbles in and a couple jets of shimmery lil bubbles. Everything is very very rough so i need to go in and shape everything with more color and shading. I have also decided i need to change her flesh tone to a more pale/blue tint to reflect the fact that she is submerged in water. Still need to decide on how i want her hand to lay on her tail and what i want/if anything sprouting from the top of her third eye. plus more bubbles shall be added as well.

While i was painting Danny was working on an art project of his:

He made this huge silkscreen frame and stretched the mesh himself- the frame is pretty much as tall as i am. Here in the photo he is using the drawing fluid medium to paint out the first part of his intended gigantic silkscreen/ebru(Turkish marbling) creation that i cant wait to see finished.

As the shape is beginning to suggest- he is creating a Buddha symbol which will actually have a few different silkscreen components to make up the finished details of the form.

And for no apparent reason on Saturday i was up at midnight playing with my dreadlocks in front of the bathroom mirror and i had to snap this photo to share:

I call it the "Tower of Dread."
Pretty ridiculous no?

Anyhoo....i am looking forward to doing some body painting tomorrow for a local Portland photographer. It is an "earth mama" themed maternity shoot where i have been commissioned to paint earthy floral patterns on his pregnant model. Should be fun...."work in progress" pics will be posted from the experience as well!

Much love,
-Chelsea Rose
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Sold an original watercolor, working on my mermaid + summer patio garden pics

So its august, and my birthday is this Sunday! I am turning 23.
and so far... I started off my birth week with some awesome surprises/presents such as:
I sold an original watercolor painting of mine via our etsy shop the other day!
See it here:

---SOLD---
"Bathing in Babylon"
original watercolor painting by Chelsea Rose

....Yes! she has found a good home and is going to New York, in fact.
It is always such an uplifting and exciting thing to sell original work- very inspiring. My heart goes out to those who support the arts!
I was pretty surprised that this watercolor sold in our etsy shop seeing that i tend to do better selling inexpensive prints on etsy and have been reluctant to put much of my original painting work up. However, this proves there are certainly interested art collectors on etsy willing to pay an artist a fair sum for original art. Perhaps i will be putting more of my watercolor and my acrylic paintings on etsy for sale in the near future!
.....seeing that this watercolor has sold also seems to have made me itch to play with watercolor( its been too long!) so i hope i can manage to play with some this weekend even though its supposed to be retardedly hot.

I got another birthday present in the form of a body painting paid commission. A fellow flickr photographer came to me, asking for my body painting services for his planned maternity shoot which he is doing for his portfolio. I happily agreed and i am excited to see how it all comes together since the theme is very "earth mother."

Here are two super quick sketches i made to show him my floral ideas for the body painting( i wanted them to look very different from my current women's study body painting series.) :
front details
back details.
The photographer said he loved these roughed out ideas- which i will be painting with earth tones of green, brown and reds. The shoot has been set for the 17th. It will be exciting to see how the project comes together. and yes of course i will have Danny with me and he will surely take some photos of the body painting process so i can share in an update entry.

In other news I have been doing some more work on my "work in progress" mermaid acrylic painting:

( sorry for the horrible photo- was taken at night in very low and yellow lighting.)
So far i have added a lot more side fins to help fill up space and add more flow and detail. However the painting was striking me as being horribly flat so i started adding bubbles in hopes of concocting some much needed depth. I am still far from finished. I have everything sort of roughed out and now i have to go back in and fine tune. I intend to add more layers of bubble also. And eventually i will have to paint the hands- which i am sure i will avoid till the very end :P

On a personal note i have come to terms with my addiction to hats. And while i am comforted by the truth that there are certainly worse addictions to be had...its still a shame!
My newest addition to my ever growing collection:

I found this one in downtown Portland at the skidmore fountain market which we cruised before heading over to the artful Saturday Market. It is purple and green/my favorite color harmony and It was $15 and is made of hemp. It works as a less dramatic sun barrier then my other sun hat which Danny has likened to a sombrero.

While this summer has been a relatively mild one- the sun has still been out in force and so my patio garden in flourishing:

the wild flowers were the first to come up and thus are most mature. However my morning glory vines have sprouted and quickly matured. They are now happily climbing the lattice and the iron work of the patio. Its a shame i took this photo in the evening because by then the 6 big morning glory trumpet flowers had gone to rest so they are not pictured here. But in this photo you can see some of my chamomile- which i just recently harvested a few flower heads to dry and make tea from.

The basil isn't seen here but its doing well and has gone through its first clippings-Chile sprouts are is still maturing and our fuscia hanging plant is producing all sorts of blooms and attracting hummingbirds to our windows. However my cilantro went to seed before i could even use it for tacos or something!

our little growing space may be small but i am thankful for it! I love hanging out on the patio on these long summer evenings with Danny and sushi cat. Summer is full with life right now. In fact just the other day Danny went outside and came back in with a huge pot full of freshly picked wild black berries from the big bushes around our neighborhood- they are everywhere and laden with fruit. Yum Yum.
As much as i am enjoying summer I am eagerly awaiting fall which i think is my fave season over here in Portland Oregon. The trees turn such psychedelic shades of orange, yellow and pink! And it starts to get a lil chilly so i get to dress in lots of layers, snug beanies and scarfs. yes! I cant wait.

So thats it for now i believe!
I wont be doing anything extra for my birthday this year- just hoping to be able to honor, remember and realize all the love and fine points of this super odd world and existence on it.

Much love to all,
-Chelsea Rose
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Vancouver Art in the Heart, mermaid painting in progress + more Wise Woman body painting photos

Had a wonderful weekend of art vending localized in Vancouver Washington- Oregon's close but often neglected neighbor who has quickly grown into a hub of the arts.
On Friday Danny and I drove over the bridge to Vancouver for "Craft in the Village" which happens each first Friday of the month.
Then on Saturday we made the drive over the bridge again and set up for "Art in the Heart" right outside of the Guerrilla Gallery where i am currently having 7 of my paintings on display:

My paintings will be up for viewing during this month of August.
Come check it out in person at Guerrilla Gallery -1001 Main St. (Upstairs)Vancouver, WA 98660

It was my first time participating in the "Art in the Heart" festival but i had great fun rockin to the live music and chatting with the local artists.

And here is a quick snapshot of our set up:

It was an overcast day that managed to still be rather hot so i was again super happy to have my sunhat with me( this thing, as obviously huge as it is has saved me so many times this summer!)

I also made use of my time by working on my mermaid painting:

I like this shot of Danny's because you can see a slice of Vancouver in it. I love it's super old red brick buildings and calm small town vibe. I wish i could move to Vancouver and rent out one of these wonderfully huge live/work studio spaces in these surrounding old warehouse redbrick buildings. Vancouver's cost of living is significantly better then Oregon however i have been told its almost impossible to find a job. Ah well...a girl can dream.

I got a lot of work done on my mermaid while i was there. I added side fins, as seen in this photo but later on in the day i also added a lot more on her upper/hip fin area. I will take some more "work in progress photos" soon to share. I plan on putting a brigade of bubbles in the distance to hopefully hint at some depth. It is always a lot of fun to do "live painting" at these art events- it always creates a lot of interest. I love the exchange of conversation to be had over a work in progress piece. I had a very young lil lady come over and ask me if i had named the mermaid yet. I had not yet named her so i asked what she would name her. She said "I would name her Amber after the beautiful colors of her scales!"

So yes, "Art in the Heart" was a wonderful experience.

Sunday I reserved for some much needed "home body" time. I did some patio gardening, some much needed TLC in the art room- straightened everything up so that i can work in it again! The summer wreaks havoc on the art room because it gets torn apart every time we have an art fair to attend. Also managed to take a trip downtown to the "Saturday market" to say bye bye to an amazing artist and friend Anna Tadaro. She is moving to Chicago and will be missed by many!

Also, i wanted to share two more photos i posted recently from my body painting/photography session with Suzanne Owens-Duval:

(body painting and photography by Chelsea Rose
Model: Suzanne Owens-Duval)
I just love how strong and confident this pose is!


(body painting and photography by Chelsea Rose
Model: Suzanne Owens-Duval)
....and this one thrills me with how happy and comfortable she is in her skin- loving herself for who and what she is, loving and living life to the fullest!

A dear friend of mine recently suggested i pick up the book "Women Who Run With The Wolves” by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PH.D and i have found it to be extremely inspiring and perfect fuel for the creative fires for the women's study body painting project that i have been working on.

I found this quote from the book to go perfectly with the two photos of mine above:

“A healthy woman is much like a wolf: robust, chock-full, strong life force, life giving, territorially aware, inventive, loyal, roving. Yet separation from the wildish nature causes a woman’s personality to become meager, thin, ghostly, spectral. We are not meant to be puny with frail hair and inability to leap up, inability to chase, to birth, to create life. When Women’s lives are in stasis, ennui, it is always time for the wildish woman to emerge; it is time for the creating function of the psyche to flood the delta.”
- Clarissa Pinkola Estes.

Truth be told!

....more updates soon.
Best wishes,
-Chelsea Rose
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FaerieWorlds 2010, Body Painting Ian of Telesma

First of all...let it just be said that the sacred energies that be seem to truly work in mysterious ways. Thats how this past weekend seemed to go- unfolding itself into an unexpected, yet well defined path of righteous fun.

A week or so ago a friend mentioned the FaerieWorlds 2010 festival and whether or not i was planning on going. I had completely forgotten that the festival was going to take place so soon and so near( in Eugene Oregon) and upon discovering that it wasn't extremely expensive to attend it peeked my interest. What was more interesting was that Danny had come across an urgent message- one of the main bands- Telesma -was in need of carpool faeries. The lead singer and the drummer were to fly into PDX but had no way to get to the Eugene fairgrounds. Long story short we ended up carpooling to the festival with these two very fine folks. When the band saw my body painting photos they invited me to paint Ian the didgeridoo/percussionist from the band. Ian regularly goes on stage in bodypaint, and has been painted by amazing artist such as Kelli Bickman and Alex Grey!

We arrived at the fairgrounds just a couple hours before Telesma was to preform. The campground area was beautiful, dappled with nice shading trees with green forested hills in the distance:

I had painted a third eye + filigree on myself, and then a third eye on Danny before we made our way into FaerieWorlds festival. So glad we had this picture snapped- we have so few together and this one came out nice!

We had agreed to meet Ian backstage behind the main stage so that we could get the body painting finished in time for sound checks and setup. so we hurried across the camp grounds.

( all the following photos in this post were taken by Danny)
At the back of the stage was this HUGE tepee that was setup as the lounge area and thats where we worked. Ian had me use the paint he normally wears which was actually createx airbrush paint. I guess its the only stuff he has found that will actually hold up to all the sweat and movement he does during shows. He had me help paint a white basecoat. Once that was in place i was able to start with my fun. As always i began by painting a third eye on the forehead...then worked my way out from there.

I only had about 30 minutes to do the body painting so i was painting in a frenzy but i had some crazy-wonderful live music to listen to as i painted because the Gypsy Nomads were onstage before Telesma. They had a very interesting sound- kinda punk fuses with celtic jig jive/ flesh eating mermaid siren singing. i loved it and it was the perfect " painting really really fast" music.

As i was painting Ian i realized that he is actually the first man i have done a body painting on. I have been working strictly with women for my body painting series up until now. Generally i view the female form as being a much more interesting canvas with lots of curves and shapes then the male physical form. But i was actually pleasantly surprised to find Ian was a wonderful canvas full of fun shapes to work with to highlight/define with my line work.


So here he is all finished!


Danny snapped these right before Ian ran onstage to join the setup.


He looked magnificent up there with his crazy music devices!

Telesma is more then a band, they are an EXPERINCE!

taken from their bio: "The Telesma experience is an ecstatic trans-cultural phenomenon with a highly infectious and danceable beat. Exploding on the Baltimore music scene in 2002, it soon developed a loyal local fan base and then shook the underground festival scene. Alex Grey, the noted visionary artist, hailed Telesma as “shamanic… with a sense of an underlying universal
wisdom…a rare combination in a rock/techno band.”
Telesma’s blurs the line between performer and audience, attracting the most
creative VJs, dancers, visual artists and body artists to its shows. Every Telesma show is a vortex of creativity; a celebration of body, mind and spirit."

.......and they rocked me till i almost dropped( realizing that dancing in the heat of summer with a corset on can be a rather intense experience in its self!)

can you spot me and my dancin feet?

The rest of the day i had off to wonder the festivities. This festival had wonderful food so i munched- yes i did( handmade veggie tamales for lunch and veggie/grilled tofu styled pad Thai for din din.) We also strode around checking out the vendors. i was very surprised to see not very many artists booths. Instead there seemed to be a lot of leather mask makers, faery inspired clothing and so on. I did stop and talk to a few of the artists whom all said that it had been a rather slow year at the festival- many of them were very glad that they had decided to split booth fees with friends. They said that the booth fees had gone up since last year yet attendance was a little lacking. Some theories to that were that there was to many fried and crispy faeries last year since it was 104 for two of main days. Perhaps the heat scared some folks? that or the economy is truly getin to be a downer? Still...i am glad we went to check out the fair and scope the opportunities present. I had initially thought to do a full art booth next year but now i am thinking it might work better for me to just set up a lil table + umbrella and offer my body painting servies. So i have some research to do...to see if and how i might swing that for next year.

..'fraid thats all the news i have got for now. more coming soon including some vending and art opening opportunities in vancouver with the Guerilla Gallery.
Best wishes and much love to all,
-Chelsea Rose
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