3 day weekend of art- body painting, art fairs and new acrylic on canvas!

Thank goodness for 3 day weekends! I got so much done and even had time to play and have some fun too.
....I have a lot of photos to share but i am going to start with what i am most excited to post: my new body painting photos:


Wise Woman
(body painting and photography by Chelsea Rose
Model:Suzanne Owens-Duval )

I feel blessed to have been able to work with Suzanne and include her in this growing women's study art project of mine.
A few weeks back i realized that my body painting project had a lot going for it: a wide rang of body type, ethnicity and culture but was missing a nice range of age. With this realization in mind i posted a craigslist ad asking for elderly women who might be interested in participating in my project. I only got one response and that was from my model Suzanne who turned out to be a super vivacious and skilled professional actor for screen and stage!


Wise Woman
(body painting and photography by Chelsea Rose
Model: Suzanne Owens-Duval)

We did the body painting in the loft of T.Ruth Artspace gallery on Sunday- walking down the stairs to stand in front of the backdrop on the main floor of the gallery. As always it was wondrous getting to know my model and it was uncanny how much we had in common in thoughts, feelings and intention. She seemed to have a real love for life and was well equipped to roll with life's punches through the years. We both agreed that everything happens for a reason and there is little point in regretting things. We also seemed to think that the body is a person's temple and that as women age the beauty matures and changes anew- our bodies becoming road maps showing the signs of a life lived well and to the fullest.


Wise Woman
(body painting and photography by Chelsea Rose
Model: Suzanne Owens-Duval)

I took over 500 photos of Suzanne in little over an hour and a half and i have been having a wonderful time in my spare moments this past weekend sifting through the shots and polishing the keepers. Needless to say, there will be more coming soon!

Now, jumping back to Friday...i wanted to share a quick snapshot of our simple set up for Craft In the Village:

Danny picked me up early from work so that we could drive on over to Vancouver Washington to participate for our second time in their "Craft in the Village" art vending event. It was predicted to rain but that sure didn't stop us! Our lil fair still went strong with live music and a dozen or more vendors braving the storm. It did rain buckets for an half an hour but we survived and were rewarded with blue sky and sun for the rest of the day. We did pretty well on sales considering! And as always it was wonderful fun to meet and hang out with all the other local artists.

On Saturday Danny and I watched T.Ruth Artspace gallery ( since our dear friend and the gallery owner is re cooperating from surgery.) Of course we had a blast greeting the people who walked in to enjoy the art. While i was there i did a lot of painting- which Danny had fun documenting:

The night before i had painted this basic background and inked a faery onto it using my fabercastell India ink pens. I brougth the canvas in and set up my tote easel and got to work.

I always start with the eyes!

can you tell my favorite things to draw and paint are lips and eyes?

....i like this photo- it shows how much my dreads have been growing!

....almost done! just working on the wings and then i need to go over everything again with another layer of shading and highlight!
goodness....this post is picture heavy...

On Sunday we had a surprise visit from two dear friends who have been living in southern Oregon on a beautiful stretch of land. We all made dinner together( fresh herb salad with home made pesto sauce and tortellinis)...then we all hung out on the patio as the sun set. Then they baked the most delicious cookies and we sat around watching episode upon episode of Avatar the Last Air Bender as i dreaded one of the dear fellow's mohawk!

All in all it was a wonderful few days!

Now that the new week is here i am looking forward to finishing up the painting i started on Saturday and hopefully beginning a new one. More photos from my "Wise Woman" shoot should be up soon.

Best wishes and much love,
-Chelsea Rose