A peak into my summer, lots and lots of photos

 I thought I would show a peak into my summer by sharing some of the random photos I have posted on Instagram.

Warning: LOTS and lots of photos. And...this post is much less arty and more personal based then usual.

But to start it off, here is a look at some of the pages in my sketch book:

I started this smaller sketch book so that I could begin carrying one around with me at all times like I was once in the good habit of doing. This is the first page. My lil pen and ink Harpy goddess, she guards the sketch book well.

Mermaidynesss, all of these drawings are in ink.  I am using my fave drawing pens, Faber Castell Pitt Artists pens, which are full of India Ink.

This pen and ink drawing is inspired by the patterns I usually paint on my models when doing body painting for my "Goddess In All Of Us" and "Earth Goddess" series.

I call these creatures "Fish of Perception" and they have appeared throughout my paintings and drawings for some time now.

I have been particularly fascinated as of late with drawing creatures that have more then two breasts :)

A bit of my poetry followed by a pencil sketch.


....And now for the onslaught of random summer moments caught via crappy cell phone photos/instagram:


My favorite flowers are Morning Glories. They grew wild in the alley ways of my hometown, Venice Beach CA right along side the dog shit, bums, dumpsters and vomit :) I always thought there was an interesting poetry to them and the way they thrived. Unfortunately, you don't see them very often up in Portland Oregon... perhaps because most people consider them a weed. For a few years now I have been growing them on my patio in the summer.

They seemed to like the spirally trellis we made for them out of left over wire this year.

I am 100% positive certain fearys regularly make their homes inside morning glory flowers. I know I would certainly live in one if I was small enough.

Morning glories seen from the living room window.

We grew a lot of basil this year. Made lots of pesto!

Here is a basil clipping that is rooting by the window.

My tiny lil apartment patio.


 Spent many a morning and afternoon this summer just sitting round drinking tea and drawing out there.

My cat, Sushi and the Gnome.

Around my birthday in August the berries were ripe everywhere you looked! I picked and ate sooo many.

Here is one of many black berry pies I made. Yum.

I have also been trying my hand at brewing my own Kombucha tea.

close up of one of the scobys. Yes, it looks horribly nasty but is actually quite yummy and extremely good for you.

...painting in my home studio space. Yes, see I did paint a bit! Not as much as I was hoping to, but summers are pretty crazy. Im sure as fall descends and the rain returns I will be spending much of my time at the easel.

Dead birthday flowers. Purdy.

...my go to dread up-do when I need them out of the way.

When Danny returned from his trip to India he brought me back a bunch of beautiful bindis, necklaces and a paisley shawl.


We took a lot of random road trips around oregon scouting out the landscapes of possible shoot locations for my new body painting photography series "Earth Goddess"







...who knew that ontop of everything else( misty forest, craggy seashore, waterfalls and more) Oregon  also has desert lands!

This is something I am missing already: Waking up with the sun in my face! Fall is already here and when I wake I'm greeted with darkness and mist( which of course is enjoyable on a different level.)

Fall is an amazing thing to witness up here and I'm looking forward to it.

I think I'm going to stop posting pictures now, although there's plenty more to be seen on my instagram account Lucid Rose, or see them here on instagrid.

My next post will most likely be about my recent explorations into the realm of urban art.

Sending love and light,
-Chelsea Rose 

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Body Painting Commission Photos and Original Watercolor Paintings for sale!

It proved to be a fairly mellow week with some much better behaved weather that did not leave my brain melted into a puddle between my feet.
On Tuesday Danny and I drove out to Scholl Oregon to meet a photographer and his pregnant model for a body painting commission.
The photographer was hoping for a somewhat "earth mama" vibed body painting since he intended to photograph the maternity shoot amongst Oregon's lush greenery.
While i worked Danny took some photos of the process:

As seen in the above photo i started the body painting by blocking out some color and then going into it to create detail and shape in order to create flowers.

The flowers were inspired by the big "dinner plate Dahlia" flowers.


The lotus was a fun addition with its roots delving into a very mysterious eye. I liked the back piece the best.
With this body painting i was trying to part ways a bit from the body painting style i have been using for my women's study body painting seires. I want to keep that look of mine soly under my name in hopes that my project will remain consistent and easily recognizable.
...Anyhow i am interested to see photos from the photographer and i will share a few with his permission on the blog when he does come out with them.

Just yesterday i decided to list more of my original watercolor paintings for sale in my etsy shop so i now pleased to announce that the following three have made it into the shop and are available for purchase:


Goddess In Full Bloom
9" x 12" watercolor painting on watercolor paper
by Chelsea Rose
Priced at $100
click here for the sale listing.


Evening Gown
9" x 12"
Original watercolor painting on watercolor paper
by Chelsea Rose
Priced at $100
Click here for the sale listing.

and also:

Sweet Water Gem
9" x 12"
original watercolor painting
by Chelsea Rose
Priced at $100
Click here for the sale listing.

....i will be listing 4 more watercolor paintings for sale in the etsy shop very soon!

Otherwise, summer continues to beat its drum and my morning glory flowers are blooming in a fever!


....and this pleases me :)

Danny got our basil clippings to begin rooting in some of my antique bottles:

...so as of yesterday they have been happily potted on the patio.
I love the way the basil smells in the morning and i am greatly anticipating some of danny's home made pesto made from our home grown plant!

And here is a look at a goofy pic i took of myself the other day when i was playing around with my locs:

I enjoyed this style because it reminded me of the hair of my current mermaid painting that i am working on:

see?
:P
I ordered some Henna dye for my dready tendrils just the other day so if the powder arrives today or tomorrow I may end up with "Irish red" locs for Monday. we shall see!
Otherwise, as far as this weekend goes i am pleased to say there are no "big plans." I hope to enjoy, relax and get a bunch of work done on my mermaid painting. wish me luck!

Best wishes and much love,
-Chelsea Rose

P.S.
I am happy to share that my body painting work has been featured in Eva Beyond Reason's blog. Click here to check it out!
Eva, thanks so much for your kindness and support- it means a lot!
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Sold an original watercolor, working on my mermaid + summer patio garden pics

So its august, and my birthday is this Sunday! I am turning 23.
and so far... I started off my birth week with some awesome surprises/presents such as:
I sold an original watercolor painting of mine via our etsy shop the other day!
See it here:

---SOLD---
"Bathing in Babylon"
original watercolor painting by Chelsea Rose

....Yes! she has found a good home and is going to New York, in fact.
It is always such an uplifting and exciting thing to sell original work- very inspiring. My heart goes out to those who support the arts!
I was pretty surprised that this watercolor sold in our etsy shop seeing that i tend to do better selling inexpensive prints on etsy and have been reluctant to put much of my original painting work up. However, this proves there are certainly interested art collectors on etsy willing to pay an artist a fair sum for original art. Perhaps i will be putting more of my watercolor and my acrylic paintings on etsy for sale in the near future!
.....seeing that this watercolor has sold also seems to have made me itch to play with watercolor( its been too long!) so i hope i can manage to play with some this weekend even though its supposed to be retardedly hot.

I got another birthday present in the form of a body painting paid commission. A fellow flickr photographer came to me, asking for my body painting services for his planned maternity shoot which he is doing for his portfolio. I happily agreed and i am excited to see how it all comes together since the theme is very "earth mother."

Here are two super quick sketches i made to show him my floral ideas for the body painting( i wanted them to look very different from my current women's study body painting series.) :
front details
back details.
The photographer said he loved these roughed out ideas- which i will be painting with earth tones of green, brown and reds. The shoot has been set for the 17th. It will be exciting to see how the project comes together. and yes of course i will have Danny with me and he will surely take some photos of the body painting process so i can share in an update entry.

In other news I have been doing some more work on my "work in progress" mermaid acrylic painting:

( sorry for the horrible photo- was taken at night in very low and yellow lighting.)
So far i have added a lot more side fins to help fill up space and add more flow and detail. However the painting was striking me as being horribly flat so i started adding bubbles in hopes of concocting some much needed depth. I am still far from finished. I have everything sort of roughed out and now i have to go back in and fine tune. I intend to add more layers of bubble also. And eventually i will have to paint the hands- which i am sure i will avoid till the very end :P

On a personal note i have come to terms with my addiction to hats. And while i am comforted by the truth that there are certainly worse addictions to be had...its still a shame!
My newest addition to my ever growing collection:

I found this one in downtown Portland at the skidmore fountain market which we cruised before heading over to the artful Saturday Market. It is purple and green/my favorite color harmony and It was $15 and is made of hemp. It works as a less dramatic sun barrier then my other sun hat which Danny has likened to a sombrero.

While this summer has been a relatively mild one- the sun has still been out in force and so my patio garden in flourishing:

the wild flowers were the first to come up and thus are most mature. However my morning glory vines have sprouted and quickly matured. They are now happily climbing the lattice and the iron work of the patio. Its a shame i took this photo in the evening because by then the 6 big morning glory trumpet flowers had gone to rest so they are not pictured here. But in this photo you can see some of my chamomile- which i just recently harvested a few flower heads to dry and make tea from.

The basil isn't seen here but its doing well and has gone through its first clippings-Chile sprouts are is still maturing and our fuscia hanging plant is producing all sorts of blooms and attracting hummingbirds to our windows. However my cilantro went to seed before i could even use it for tacos or something!

our little growing space may be small but i am thankful for it! I love hanging out on the patio on these long summer evenings with Danny and sushi cat. Summer is full with life right now. In fact just the other day Danny went outside and came back in with a huge pot full of freshly picked wild black berries from the big bushes around our neighborhood- they are everywhere and laden with fruit. Yum Yum.
As much as i am enjoying summer I am eagerly awaiting fall which i think is my fave season over here in Portland Oregon. The trees turn such psychedelic shades of orange, yellow and pink! And it starts to get a lil chilly so i get to dress in lots of layers, snug beanies and scarfs. yes! I cant wait.

So thats it for now i believe!
I wont be doing anything extra for my birthday this year- just hoping to be able to honor, remember and realize all the love and fine points of this super odd world and existence on it.

Much love to all,
-Chelsea Rose
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