Chelsea Rose Art Show recap and photos

So my art opening at Future Shock was lots of fun and I wanted to share some photos of it with you!

Here I am a bit gussied up for the opening night, posing with my mermaid door painting before the show started.

And here are some photos of the walls before it got crowded:

The artwork was hung by Danny Ebru, who has a fantastic eye for arranging and displaying art. He also took these photos. Thanks boo!

The show featured 55 of my original paintings.

Out of the 55 paintings displayed, 8 of them were collaborative works with other local Portland Oregon artists who are dear to my heart. The photo above, shows the "collab" section of the show featuring collaborations I did with Darci (Silly Weird Things), Danny Ebru, SKAM and RX Skulls.

Out of the 55 paintings, 27 of them were newly created pieces, most of which I had kept hidden from the world as I feverishly painted them the month before the show.

 I was very excited to get to debut so much new stuff at the art opening! The remaining paintings on display were "select works" from previous years that I felt deserved more time in the spotlight.

The new and old paintings were intermixed on the walls which I was initially a little nervous about, but in the end I think it worked out really well.

(Mike of Future Shock gets photo cred on this one!)

And, though I am not sure its apparent from these photos, I was happy to hang my canvas paintings alongside vinyl records, skateboards, blocks of scrap wood, doors and other found objects that I painted. So there was also an element of using recycled material for painting on, which we butted up right next to more of my traditional "fine art" supports formats like canvas.

What makes me even more pleased was that those that came to the show seemed to really dig the art:

We had a fantastic selection of beautiful souls cruise in to take a look at my art. With 12 original pieces sold I was ecstatic! 

People were also totally into the custom screen printed shirts Future Shock made specially to commemorate my art show. The shirt features a pen and ink drawing of one of my newest paintings that I debuted at the opening. 

Shirts are on sale for $20 at Future Shock or you can buy one( or check out more photos of it) in my online shop here. And yes, in case you were wondering... that is in fact a big MearOne painting next to my t-shirt display. His painting guards the entry way into the Future Shock Gallery and I am honored by its presence!

And I even sold out of the hand made sticker packs I put together for the opening! 

But have no fear, I made more sticker packs and I now have my own lil rack in the retail/record store section of Future Shock. 

And yes, you simply must stop in the Future Shock PDX sometime this month since my art will be on display all of September. No excuses! Even if you are far you must find a way to visit even if its via astral projection or stolen extraterrestrial teleportation devices. 

Much love and gratitude,

-Chelsea Rose 

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Beyond the Tentacle, Nautilus painting and show

Have a look at another new painting of mine:

Saint Nautilus

16"x20"

original acrylic painting on canvas

by Chelsea Rose

It all started out with a call to artists for a Cephalopod( marine animals like octopus, squid, cuttlefish, Nautilus and more) themed group show at Good: a gallery.  

I was instantly drawn to the Nautilus because of its amazing spiral shell. So I drew a concept sketch:

pen and ink concept sketch

I liked my drawing enough that I quickly transferred it onto a canvas I had painted a watery background on with acrylic:

pen and ink drawing on top of acrylic painted canvas

Then I started working on the base color layers 

Once the colors were worked out I began adding details

The show's deadline came up quick so I rushed to complete the piece. 

Here she is all done, just before leaving my home studio to drop her off at the gallery

The opening show at Good: a gallery was lots of fun with some wonderful art. 

Here are some photos from the event:

Here I am, very happy with the placement of my painting, super stoked to be showing alongside some really wonderful works of art! 

My good friend Darci ( Silly. Weird. Things. ) with her awesome alien tentacle lady painting!

All in all, I was very inspired by this group show and had a great time being a part of it. If you are in PDX this month, July, do take a moment to pop in and check out the art! 

Much love,

-Chelsea Rose 

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Sticker Nerds III and Space Lady Mural

I had the oppertunity to get involved with an awesome pop up art exhibit that happened in Portland late last month called Sticker Nerds III. The event was touted the biggest sticker art installation show ever created in the US and was self described as "a celebration of adhesive art with contributors from all over the globe."

 I submitted a sizable pile of my own hand screen printed/block printed stickers as well as a few hand painted posters:

(acrylic paint on poster paper)

(lino cut block prints on acrylic painted sticker paper)

(screen prints on adhesive vinyl) 

Knowing some of the organizers of the event, I volunteered to help with the install which meant pealing and sticking hundreds of submitted stickers on walls, old TVs and computers, pillars, vending machines, news paper stands, mirrors, toilets and more for days leading up to the event. 

At some point during the install I was asked to paint a mural on one of the wooden pillars. 

A request I most happily accepted.

Here are a few work in progress photos:

I was able to rope in two of my favorite local artists to add elements of their own into the mural, thus creating an awesome collaboration. Silly Weird Things added the ray gun, and the lil rooster aliens manning space ships( which we lovingly call "space cocks) Mewt added the creatures encapsulated in blue planet like orbs as well as much of the background details.

The finished result: 

I really love how it turned out and its inspiring me to find more mural projects to do in the near future!

The Sticker Nerds III event was crazy, in a good way. 

People waited in line for hours to see the exhibition which was allowing 20 visitors in at a time. 

Our space lady mural watched over the "collab" station, which consisted of two couches and a coffee table set up in the middle of the event space. The table was stacked full of sticker paper and pens so that the visitors, if feeling inspired, could make some stickers of their own. 

Some close ups of some of my work around the exhibit: 

I had a few "fine art" pieces on the walls too. 

One piece sold before I got a photo, but here are the remaining two:

"Green Faery" acrylic on canvas

"Pot Head"

Acrylic painted skateboard deck with screen print.  

And here are some random photos of the rest of the installation: 

I highly recommend checking out the article that the Portland Street Art Alliance wrote about the exhibit ( this article features some real quality photos of the event also.) 

Read it here!

All in all, I am just super stoked to have been in on this crazy masterpiece and am super thankful for everyone who made the event possible as well as the visitors who came through the install to bask in the spectacle. 

More like this please! 

Much love,

-Chelsea Rose 

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