Busy Weekend: New Body painting photos and more

We had a super fun and busy weekend.
On Friday we went to the closing reception of the 5th annual Portland Love show where we ran into friends and enjoyed the evening. Turns out we sold the art piece that Danny and I put in under our collaboration name: Lucid Optic Lab.
Here is the snapshot of the piece hanging on the wall before it sold:

Our piece is the black and white photograph with a dash of red in it. Its from the "Your Body is Your Temple" body painting session that I did a couple months ago.
You can see the piece by its self here.

Speaking of body painting, on Saturday I did another session!
This was my second White paint on Dark skin body painting:

(body painting and photography by Chelsea Rose
Model: Thierra )
Meet Thierra who is an aspiring clothing/wardrobe designer as well as a single mother of two. Her clothing label name is Rebel Heiress.

I painted her in the loft of T.Ruth Artspace gallery
This time the body painting took a lot less time, we were all super surprised.
I suppose the more I do these body paintings the faster I will be able to bust them out.
We went down stairs and started photographing around 1:30pm and were done around 3:00pm.
After that Danny and I went home, cooked lunch and relaxed. These body paintings are so much fun but they seem to leave me exhausted. I have at least 3 more white paint on dark skin shoots that i need to complete before i an consider this project finished.
This coming weekend I have a black on light skin shoot with a wonderful local woman who has only one hand. She seems to have a super strong spirit and I cant wait to work with her!
More pictures will be coming soon!

On Sunday Danny and I did some chores and took a short hike up one of the forest park trails. When we got home we started working on art projects:

here i am in my tiny home studio space, working on these pen and ink drawings that i have been doing ontop of acrylic painted canvas. I managed to prep a lot of surfaces for drawing on, so now i have a big pile that i need to begin to ink. In this photo you can see me working on one, going over my initial lines and adding more line weight and detail to the piece. Both the purple one i am working on and the blue cat pen and ink are a part of a custom order that i am filling.

Let me know if you'd like to have one of these made in a certain color with a perticular drawing of mine. I would be delighted to create one for you!

Danny has just released some more of his music under the project name Bone and All:

thats the cover art for this EP that he made for Bone and All "Masters of the Universal Mind LP "
If you are a fan of trippy, psychedelicness then youd love his musical concoctions.
Have a listen to his music at bonesandall.myspace.com or downland and listen here

So thats about it.
When I get home today I will be listing some more tie dye in our etsy shop as well as listing some of the pen and ink drawings over acrylic that i finished over the weekend.
Also, stay tuned for more pictures from the latest body painting shoot.

Much love!
-Chelsea Rose
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New Pen and Ink drawings on Canvas + tie dye

This week flew by!
Its been super blustery and wet and i have been super tired for some reason by the time i get home. I haven't started a new painting yet but i have been working on making a bunch of these:

They are 9"x12" hand drawn pen and ink illustrations on acrylic painted canvas.
Im selling them for $40 in our etsy shop.
View the listing for the Green Masquerade and the Purple Poetess
these are reproductions i am making by projecting my original pen and ink drawings onto canvas and then hand tracing and refining them. With this process, even though i am reproducing my original art it seems each one tends to come out with variations from the original, thus making them unique and one of a kind!
I have a few more finished that i will take photos of and list soon so stay tuned for more!
Also, if you have a favorite pen and ink drawing of mine that you would like to have hand drawn onto a certain color of stretched canvas, please let me know and we can work out a custom order!

In other news i have posted some new tie dye in our shop. check it out:


We are calling this one "Blue Ripple"
Its unisex 100% cotton thermal long sleeve shirt.
Its a nice big size and super comphy with measurments of:
Bust: 40"
waist: 38"
hips: 40"
its selling right now for $20
Check out the sale listing here

We also listed a new tie dye skirt for sale:


We are calling this one "Midnight Purple Stripe"
its 100% cotton
waist: 32"
Hips: 42"
Length: 33"
has an adjustable draw string waist with zipper.
Hand tie dyed with lots of love!
Its also going for $20
check out the shop listing here

So thats it for now, as far as new stuff goes.

Today after work Danny and I will be attending the closing party for the 5th Annual Portland Love show....Danny and I both have artwork in the show, alongside a few of our friends from Portland and Vancouver. Should be fun!

Then this weekend i will be doing another body painting session at T.Ruth Artspace gallery. If you are in town and feel like stoppin by and hanging out we will be in the gallery painting and photographing all day! I am doing my 2nd body painting using white paint over dark skin.

So thats the scoop!
Happy Friday, have a wonderful weekend.
Much love,
-Chelsea Rose
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Practical Magic art show + New Tie dye + another body painting shot.

I just got the flyer for the Practical Magic Art gallery group show!!


I am very, very excited to be a part of this group show amidst some amazing local artists!

Practical Magic
Coeur: Art
323 NW 6th- Portland
www.coeurart.com
April 2010
Opening First Thursday
6pm-10pm
Show runs through April 30th
Gallery Hours: Th, Fr, St 12-6pm
-------

So up here in Oregon we have had a bizarrely mild winter, especially when compared to last year's snow blast. Spring seemed to have come early- all the trees are abloom and the bulb flowers have sprouted all over. Which was a bit of a wake up call telling us to" Get off your butts and get tie-dyeing!"....the fairs should be starting up soon and we need some fresh tie dye to hang in our booth.
So here are a couple new items:

Yellow sunrise tiedye blouse
on sale now for $20
click here to view the sale listing.
100% cotton
size: women's extra small
bust: 38"
waist: 34"
hips: 32"
.....I think this one is my fave from our new tie dye batch! i am very tempted to keep it for myself.

and a tie dye dress:

Forest Nymph tie dye dress
on sale now for $20
click here to view the sale listing.
100% linen
button up dress
with draw string in back for adjustability
women size small
Bust: 40"
waist: 42"
hips: 44"

....we also ended up taking new photos of old tie dye. We felt some of the old tie dye would do better with higher quality images. i really think the new photos jazzed up the listings and more actuatly portrayed the individual tie dye awesomeness:


Leaf Lite tie dye shirt
women small(S) 100% cotton long sleeve shirt
dyed with procion mx turquoise and yellow
34" chest
to view listing click Here


Turquoise Vortex tie dye
on sale for $20
to view listing click here
women small(S) 100% cotton 3/4 sleeve V-neck shirt
dyed with procion mx turquoise and purple
40" chest

.....now that i look at all of these together i realize, with disappointment, that they are all size small! We have so much tie dye in big sizes yet to be photographed and listed mainly because we don't have a live model to wear them for us! I will have to solve this problem soon so that we have a better variety of size items available. Bare with me!

So we will be posting new tie dye at least once a day so keep checking out our shop for new tie dye goodies!

Oh yes....and i wanted to share with you a body painting photo i drudged up last night and released:

please click and full view!
(body painting and photography by Chelsea Rose
Model: Amata)
....i hope you guys are not sick of body painting yet because i have my next shoot coming up this weekend!

Also, i just found out that i was written about in a HandMadeSpark.com article! Feel free to read it here. Its written by a dear blogger friend Studio MME about sharing artwork in progress with others!
So thats it for news right now. More to come later!

Happy international Women's Day!!

Peace n Love,
-Chelsea Rose
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The Sea Witch painting, my treasure map and another body painting photo

This week went by oddly fast.
I did manage to finish the painting i have been working for over two weeks now:

18"x24"
original acrylic painting by Chelsea Rose
this image is a bit dark( im not the best color corrector. thats danny's expertise) but i wanted to share. A better quality photograph will be produced soon :)
but ya get the idea yea?
I then ended up reforming some of her arm tentacle to be more round and fluid vs angled. I also repainted the third eye to look more animal/reptile/cat-like. I added delicate tendrils to the background steming from her head dress. went over everything with more color and highlights. and then I was done. I finished it last night and took photos so i could share today on my blog.

Now to start on a new painting this weekend!

By the way. this painting was actually inspired by a lil mini canvas drawing i have listed in my etsy shop right now. here she is, the original sea witch:

Sea Witch
4"x5"
original acrylic + pen and ink painting on canvas board
by Chelsea Rose
selling for $15
( comes with its own mini easel )
to view the listing or to buy click HERE
so check out the shop for more of my original mini canvas pen and ink paintings!

I also wanted to share with you my "Treasure Map":

i went to a wisdom circle at T.Ruth Art space(Portland Oregon) last weekend...
this time we were led through a "self realization and actualization" meditation that involved forming a goal or want in your mind...and then creating what they called a "treasure map" where you piece together with magazine clippings... what you want to manifest in your life.
it was fun. i hung mine in my lil home art studio area on what i call my "inspiration wall"
I think this is a great exercise for those who are wanting to exercise their personal power of manifestation. Its a fun project that can be done at home while listening to music or watching a good movie or it could be done in a group setting. But as the wise woman, leader of this exercise had warned us all- be careful what you put on your treasure map because these things tend to eventually end up shaping themselves into our lives!


I took this picture of myself a couple days ago. I had the apartment to myself, was sipping tea and enjoying the feel of the sun coming through the window.
In this photo i am wearing a new choker that i got off of etsy from a really wonderful shop called KMKostumes/KMKDesigns
here is a close up of the choker:

I love it!
We ended up trading for it. I got the choker and she got a print of my "Poetess" drawing : )
I love bartering!!
Be sure to check out her shop...its full of all sorts of lovely costume including hand sewn corset dresses, adorable bloomers, petticoats, bows and more!
...looking at her shop makes me want to play dress up.

So thats it for now!
I will leave you with a picture of a quiet weekend moment:

making breakfast in the morning before rushing around portland.

Much love to all, thanks for all the support!
-Chelsea Rose
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Apparition of Truth- more body painting photos from the series

So its Monday and in many ways i feel like clawing my own eyes out, roasting them in garlic and feeding them to my cat. But i will refrain. I promise.
The weekend was wonderful. I did not have a body painting photo shoot lined up so i used my extra time wisely by working on my painting in process, getting things ready for the art fair seasons(next month!) and a lil bit of house cleaning and soul searching too.

I also released 2 more shots from my Apparition of Truth shoot with Wenseay:

(body painting and photography by Chelsea Rose
Model: Wenseay)


(body painting and photography by Chelsea Rose
Model: Wenseay)

My next shoot is lined up for the 13th. Should be fun!
....The more i have thought about turning this body painting project of mine into a series that i could show in a gallery, the more i realized how out of budget printing and framing all of these photographs would be. So, today on my way home im planning on stoppin by the library to see if they have any HOW TO books on Grant writing. That would be a great way to deal with the expenses of printing and framing all the photos from this body painting series. Its worth a shot, at least.

I have confirmed that i will be having my solo show in April at InOtherWords feminist book store. Which means i am kicking my butt into hyper gear to see how many more paintings i can produce before i have to begin the hanging.
Speaking of painting, danny took this photo over the weekend while i was fine tuning some of the details in the painting i am currently working on:

I should be done with this one in a day or two...whether i like it or not, it will be time to move on!

....oh! Did i mention i woke up on Saturday with a guttural need to find a yard sale? Well danny and i ended up finding one. It was small and the woman was mainly selling toddler clothes but look what i found in the free box:

yes, i found this wicked cool Bonnet in a for free box! I love it. Its very sweet and simple with browns and yellows. It will be perfect to wear in the summer during the art fairs to keep my face out of the sun. Yay for bonnet love and free finds : )

Also, check out this Mandala painting that danny did over the weekend:

(water color and ink mandala painting by Danny)
i think this one is my fave out of the 6 that he has done so far. you can view the rest here.
Purple and green are my fave colors, especially when combined and i love the scale pattern that he used on this one. Cant wait to see what he does next with these Mandalas of his.

Yep, so we still have a lot of stuff to get done in time to the art fairs.
Busy busy.
Hope all is well with everyone.
Peace n Love,
-Chelsea Rose
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More Black on White Body Art photos and painting in processs shots

This week has been pretty mellow. I have been working on revising more of the photos that i took last Saturday of my model Wenseay for my body painting project. She was my first dark model. I used white paint instead of the black that i have been using on my lighter models.
The effect was startling and very lovely.
Here are a couple more shots that I released over the week:

(Body painting and photography by Chelsea Rose
Model: Wenseay)


(Body painting and photography by Chelsea Rose
Model: Wenseay)

I have a lot more to edit and release!
This weekend i was hoping to do another shoot with a dark model and the white paint but nothing seems to have materialized. However, i did get a certain model to confirm to do a body painting shoot on March the 13th. Im very excited! She is a beautiful black lady with a tun of curves and sultry roundness. She will do perfectly. More details soon!

So, this weekend I guess I will be free to do a lot of photo editing and work on the painting I have been working on.
here are a few work in progress shots that I took during the week as I was working on the painting:

I had painted this much during Tuesday night.


I made a lot of progress and a bunch of changes Wednesday night. It seems my color palette has changed from green and purple to more oranges and reds. Not sure if i am content with this color scheme but I'm going to play with it a lot more over the weekend.

So now you know what i have been up to all week and what i will probably be doing all weekend since its predicted to be a rainy one.

Best wishes to all!
and hello to all my new blog followers. thanks so much for the support!

Love,
-Chelsea Rose
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White on Black. New Body painting shoot!

On Saturday I completed my 5th body painting photo shoot. This time i painted a darker woman, thus i got to try out using the white paint instead of black. I really enjoyed the results:

(body painting and photography by Chelsea Rose
Model: Wenseay)


(body painting and photography by Chelsea Rose
Model: Wenseay)

...those are the two shots that i have released so far, however here are a few process shots that Danny took while i painted Wenseay:

We got to a late start this time by beginning the painting work around 11:00am. Strangely enough time flew by and i was finished painting an hour early then i normally finish when starting around 10:00am. I'm thinking perhaps as i do these body paintings more and more the speed in which i can get them done may increase? that would be nice.

So we painted from 11:00am-2:00pm and then photographed from 2:00pm to 4:00pm.
Danny says that perhaps if i was not chatting so much with Wenseay i probably could have finished even earlier. I do love to talk with my models and get to know them as i paint them.

So the shoot went well and i really love the shots i took.
However the white snazaroo paint did behave a lot differently then the black snazaroo paint.
I found it to be a lot thicker which made it crack and flake off much more severely then the black paint did. Thus, in many of the shots you can see the flaky/cracking paint. im undecided on whether or not i like the bits of texture this made within the photos. Im going to try and see if i can find a smoother white body paint to use on my next darker skinned model.
So far i dont have any other dark models who have agreed to do this project with me but i am going to go once again on the look out and see if i can find someone to book for a shoot next weekend. Wenseay says she knows a few girls who might be interested. we shall see!

In the meantime i am doing a tun of painting to get ready for my solo show in spring and also to pump up inventory for when the art fairs are back in season( so soon!!)
Also danny is working on fleshing out our tie-dye inventory. We had intentions of doing a lot of tie-dye through the winter so we would be ready for spring but it never happened. We got bogged down by so many other projects and now the winter is nearing its end!
In my next post i will be sharing some of my work in progress shots from the painting i am working on now. she is a 3 eyed sea creature with polka dot tentacles for arms!

Much love,
-Chelsea Rose
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