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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Weekend Tidbits:finishing my Trinity Pixie painting and a look at Dayzee love creations

This weekend was blissfully uneventful- sometimes you need those in order to find a balance.

Our only obligation for the weekend was on Saturday: to open up and watch our friend Tiffany's Gallery, T.Ruth Artspace, since she is till recovering from illness. We made the best of the day by setting up a couple tables along the gallery front on the sidewalk and sold some of our creations. I love sidewalk sales.
I also managed to put the final touches on a acrylic painting i have been working on:

This is the Trinity Pixie- named after her strange balance of 3 eyes. I spent about 3 hours going over her in the gallery adding more highlight and shadow/correcting shape and so on ( in this photo she was still an hours worth or work away from being finished.) Today when i get home from work i hope to sign her and coat her in a protective gloss varnish then she will be all done. I will be displaying her along with some of my other paintings next month inside the Guerrilla Gallery, curated and run by Olin and the Guerrilla Media artist collective based in Vancouver WA ( i love those folks!) I will have more on that as the date draws nearer.

I also wanted to share an etsy artist and friend with you: DayzeeLove creations
She is a UK based etsy seller whom i met via Chat on one veryyy slow day.
I recently had ordered a pair of custom made clip on earrings from her and she had sent me some extra goodies along with them and i liked them so much!

....they are called "Purple Skeleton Leaf Glass and Antique Bronze Bobby Pins with Silver background."
see her actual etsy store listing for these here.
...her creations are very hard to resist for those who are generally entranced by shiny things :P

and a close up for you:

Here is a shot documenting the lovely "Green and Purple Skeleton Leaf Glass Earrings" that she made into clip ons for me since i dont have my ears pierced. Check out her shop listing for them here.
I love etsy and the community of hands on, hand made enthusiasts and artists. Its a very good thing to have a hub such as this site where other artists can mingle and connect from all around the world with each other- sharing inspiration and helpfull tips. And even though i have my own shop on etsy i think its karmatically good to buy from another etsy shop now and again- we have to support eachother!
Speaking of my etsy shop, its been awhile since i have uploaded anything new so i will have to make a point this week to do so. However i currently have over 100 art creations for sale including original paintings, art prints, screen printed shirts, tie dye and much more so take a glance into the shop if you are curious.

So yes, hello to a new week.
Much love to all,
-Chelsea Rose
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