The Long Ride Home acrylic painting

I have been so preoccupied with painting on non traditional surfaces such as cow skulls, walls, recycled materials and the human body, that I had forgotten to share with you my most recently completed painting on canvas. Oops!

So without further adieu:

"The Long Ride Home"
12"x16"
Original acrylic painting on canvas
by Chelsea Rose

This painting is the first in a series I plan to make involving placing my strange creature ladies in fairly mundane places/doing fairly mundane things. Such as, this first piece, commuting home on a train. Other ideas include waiting at bus stops, eating at a restaurant, working an office job, taking a bath and so on. I have sketches of many of these ideas at the ready, I just need to buckle down and begin to pump out paintings for this series.

Now, since I am a fiend for work in progress photos I will share the creative process involved in the production of "The Long Ride Home." Enjoy!

It all began with a  rough concept sketch in my drawing book. I felt confident enough with it that I went ahead and projected my sketch onto to canvas and proceeded to transfer it (using an india ink marker) while adding more dimension and detail.

 I then began to add the first layers of color. I hadn't done a color study for this painting so I was making up the color scheme as I went along which was mostly fun, but a bit nerve racking at times.

By the time I went through with my 2nd layer of color I had made some big decisions about the interior of the train car as well as the outside sky/cityscape. My favorite movie of all time is a Studio Ghibli animation called "Spirited Away" and if you are a fan of the film, you should be able to tell right away that I recreated my own interpretation of the iconic red seated, wood interior train. If you have yet to see this movie, you must go watch it. Now! Seriously…
I also changed the sky to a dusky/sunsety affair, while pushing the city scape farther back.

During the final layers of color I added small details like her leg hair and shoes.

And to cap off these work in progress photos, here is a nice wide look into my lil art factory.

I think my next painting in this new series of mine is going to be one of my creature ladies eating a bowl of ramen at a lil restaurant.

Here is a lil sketch of the ramen painting concept. Next step is to select a canvas and get to work projecting my sketch onto it so that I can begin to paint. I will keep you posted on its progress.

Much love and light,
-Chelsea Rose 

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Bench Mural #2 in Portland Oregon

As you may know from my previous post, I was given a contract via community run origination, Alberta Art Works to paint two benches in the Alberta Arts district of Portland Oregon. I am now all done with the 2nd bench mural. See my previous post for photos and info on the 1st bench.

This was my concept painting that was approved for the mural commission.

 I began roughing out the concept on the bench with spray paint and then went back through with a black paint pen to begin to plot out the lines and details of the fish creatures.

and then I began to layer color on top of color, on top of color until I was satisfied with the color depth.

and then came the final details and black outlines.

And just as soon as the paint was dry, Brook from Alberta Art works came by and varnished both of my benches for me!

Here it is all finished!

And here I am with my school of fish ladies :)

I also made a lil video about the creative process involved in painting this bench. Check out the video here on my youtube channel.

Big thanks to Alberta Art Works for facilitating this mural project. Collage art store, thank you for donating the mural paint! Thank you, Just Bob Cafe for making sure I didn't get dehydrated while painting in the sun by offering me all sorts of yummy chilled teas all day long.

That same day, since I finished painting my 2nd bench mural with plenty of daylight and spray paint left, I walked over to one of the Alberta Free Walls where I practiced my spray painting with a quickie Third Eye piece:

Anyhoo, I am very excited to show you my two other recent mural projects. One was done in a Cafe in Southern Oregon, and another done in a patron's bedroom in Portland Oregon. 

More on those very soon!

With love and light,

-Chelsea Rose   

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Sasquatch and Zodiac art shows

See my newest acrylic painting:

"Signal Fire"

12"x16"

original acrylic painting

This  piece was created to contribute to the local Sasquatch themed group show at Good: A Gallery. This unique collection of work will be up for the month of March so if you can manage it, go check it out! I had so much fun creating this painting. Check out my youtube video  about the process creation and my inspiration sources.

The opening was last night, and I had a blast.  The gallery was packed full of some really wonderfully created Big Foot tribute pieces by many of my favorite local Portland Oregon artists.

In the same show I was also super excited about showing off a collaborative piece I did with a local artist/mad scientist/friend:

Meet "Lady Big Foot" a collaborative art doll by myself and Doktor Creature. The general design is inspired by my "Signal Fire" big foot ladies in the painting above. The good Doktor did most of the work, including sculpting the face and felting the entire body. I painted the face sculpture and the drawer that he placed her within for display. I adore the way she came out and I can hardly wait to create more collaborative art dolls!

…and here we are together with our art doll, bringing the weird, with pride and joy!

In the same night was the Zodiac art show, which I had created four new pieces especially for:

"Taurus"

original acrylic painting on masonite board

"Libra"

original acrylic painting on masonite board

"Scorpio" original acrylic painting on masonite board

"Capricorn"

original acrylic painting on masonite board

And here I am with my friend Darci Silly.Weird.Things at last night's opening for the Zodiac show at Splendorporium Gallery. My "Leo" also titled "Bast, Keeper of the Meadow" is on the left, while Darci's "Capricorn" is to the right and in the middle a super lovely "Pieces" painting by an artist we both admire, Lisa Wilde. 

As much as I have been inspired and driven by all the group theme art shows I have been participating in, I am looking forward to focusing more energy in the next month or two on painting series concepts I have been planning out in my sketch book for some time. So keep an eye on my IG and FB for updates on my new works in progress. 

With love and light,

-Chelsea Rose 

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Mother Of Faces acrylic painting on canvas

Today I finished a tribute acrylic painting for my favorite animation of all time: Avatar: Last Airbender.

"Mother of Faces"
16"x20"
original acrylic painting on canvas
by Chelsea Rose

This painting is inspired by “The Mother Of Faces” a spirit who only appears in the Avatar Last Air Bender graphic novel “The Search.” As with many of the characters in the Avatar world, Mother of faces is a fascinating and strong female archetype (IE: Compassionate Mother Protector and Gentle Giant) that shows great heart and generosity while still commanding respect and awe. The mother’s ability to emerge and become mightier than the very mountains around her sacred pool was especially inspiring to me. I enjoyed exploring and expressing her tremendous scale within my painting, while also aiming to capture her surreal beauty and grace. As an artist, I usually gravitate to subject matter related to the sacred feminine, warrior women, and the paranormal or metaphysical. I saw all of these things in The Mother of Faces and felt she would lend herself well to my painting approach as well as my existing body of work.

And...It all started with a pen and ink sketch:

Once I had the pen and ink sketch I projected it onto canvas and then began to load the canvas with color.

And then today I added the final touches:

I was in a bit of a rush to create this because only a few weeks ago did I realize that there was an open call to artists for the Legend of Korra / Avatar: Last Air Bender Tribute Exhibition showing at Gallery Nucleus in early March. The deadline for art submissions is Feb. 20th. Yikes! I submitted my painting today and I am crossing my fingers that they pick mine to exhibit( they are only choosing 15 pieces of art from all of the open call submissions. Eeep!)

In other news, I am currently working on creating a astrology sign series which has been lots of fun so far. I began working on the series because I am going to be a featured artist for Splendorporium's March show, which is Zodiac themed. I am also working on a painting for an upcoming "Sasquatch" themed group show at Good Gallery, opening in March. Oh! And, I will be doing a month long art install at The Bike Bar during March. Soooo, March is shaping up to be a pretty busy month! No complaints here. More updates and photos soon.

Much love and light,
-Chelsea Rose 

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Recent Spray Painting Experimentations

What with the Holiday's and all I have recently found some time to get back into experimenting with spray painting. Earlier this month I drove down to the Eugene Oregon free wall with friends and had a blast painting:

I started with this piece, inspired by my previous acrylic painting on canvas called The Seed which you can view or purchase a print of here. 

Here it is finished. It took about an hour and a half. I was pretty happy with it, but still abel to see things that I could improve upon…especially line weight control.

I started on one last piece and did it in a about 30 mins because it was getting pretty cold outside and my fingers were starting to go a bit numb.

This spEYEn character has been one of my most popular drawings and most commissioned designs in recent times, so I thought to give it a try in my new favorite medium, spray painting. I had a lot of fun doing the shading on the body and butt with the various colors. 

I took a bunch of footage of the experience and made it into a short video. Watch it on my youtube channel: YouTube.com/ChelseaRoseArts

….And it turns out it was really good that I got some spray painting practice in because the following week I got the opportunity to do some spray painting in California with Jennifer Korsen, a female spray paint muralist that I admire.

Jennifer took me to one of her favorite places to paint called "The Fame Yard" which has some truly awesome artwork on the walls. I was honored and a little intimidated to paint at first but Jennifer was very encouraging and the space was so inspiring that I couldn't help but grab my paint cans and give it a go. So here we are, in the photo above, a couple hours into our paint session, happily painting the day away.

I was excited to see a bit of progress with my line weight and can control. My technique still needs a lot of work but practice makes perfect! 

Here is my mermaid mural all finished! 

And here we are together posing in front of our respective finished murals, grinning ear to ear. 

It was such a fun day! 

I am back from California now and looking over the photos, thus I was moved to make this post and share them with you. I hope you enjoyed! 

I have a bunch of video footage from the day that I have edited into a video which you can check out right here. 

I hope your Holidays and New Year are filled with love and art!

-Chelsea Rose 

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I Am Therefore I Think & Bling group Art shows

This month I am in two group shows around town:

"I Am Therefore I think" at Peoples Art of Portland Gallery, and "Bling" at Splendoporium Gallery

I created four paintings for "I Am therefore I think" which is a social commentary art show:

"Devastated"

11x14

original acrylic painting on canvas board

 by Chelsea Rose

This painting was a nice change in subject matter/intention then my usual art. I was still able to paint the sacred feminine, but did so in a setting and environment that expressed my own unease and misgivings about mankind's disregard for the planet we inhabit.

"War Is Over"

6"x6"

Original Acrylic Painting on canvas board

by Chelsea Rose 

"Justice" 

6"x6"

original acrylic painting on canvas board

by Chelsea Rose 

"Not Asking for It"

6"x6"

original acrylic painting on canvas board

by Chelsea Rose 

These three mini paintings were created as a mini series expressing three major issues that women face in global society. I chose the issues of War, Inequality and Rape Culture. It was important for me to try and show a verity of ethnicity in these three paintings which I feel I managed to accomplish by featuring a Middle Eastern woman, a Black woman and a White woman.

Here they are drying on my easel: 

And here are some photos from the art opening:

Here I am posing by one of my protestor mini paintings. The opening was a day before Halloween so I wore my dreadlocks in Sailor Moon style hair buns.

And I had to take a photo of this lady dressed as one of my all-time favorite female artists, Frida Khalo, as she sat below my "Devastated" painting.

As you can see by these small sections of wall in the photos, there was sooo much art on those walls, it was practically floor to ceiling.

The show is still up, and will remain so till the first of December, so go check it out! 

And then I have one painting in the "Bling" show at Splendorporium Gallery:

"Gems in the Heavens"

original acrylic painting on wood 

by Chelsea Rose 

The show will be up till January 5th, so you have plenty of time to have a look. 

I am also working on my five paintings for the Big 500 show, opening Dec.13th.

...as well as getting several of my acrylic paintings on records submitted to the vinyl record art show at Future Shock. 

And if you are looking for an opportunity to buy a bunch of prints, or original art from me you will have the chance to do so at the 6th annual Splendorcraft gift sale, where I will be sharing a booth space with Silly Weird Things. 

So come visit us Friday the 5th, Saturday the 6th of December and collect some art! 

Thanks for the support!

-Chelsea Rose 

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