NEW WORK: ALBUQUERQUE EL REY Theatre Mural Collabo : Day #1 w/ Jaque Fragua

Jaque & I had started yesterday on our mural at the back of the El Rey theatre. The wall is actually way bigger than I thought, but we've made  quite a progress yesterday. We started at the back of the Golden West Saloon, Albuquerque's famed red velvet-walled bar/venue that had burned down a few years ago in a tragic fire accident. Everyone who came through to check what we were up to had found memories of it. The first thing that we both saw in the burnt wall was a face, so we decided to do a GATEKEEPER that will guard the celestial happenings about the happen...I see the project as a form of space-theraphy, using the healing power of color & form to bring the rubble back to life. The transformation was pretty mindblowing...

We each painted on the two sides of the face our ancestral tribal symbols. Mine is the TURUL the divine messenger of the Magyars (the way Hungarians call ourselves), who perches on the Tree of Life along with the other spirits of unborn children in the form of birds. Legends hold that the Turul was the forefather of the first Hungarian king (and our ancestor Attila the Hun as well). Nomadic Magyars had a shamanistic tradition and traveled in tribes along with other Turkic and Mongolian tribes in Easter-Central Asia..all of our history before 900 A.D. was kept oral. They were called the Turul clan, who migrated toward the west from Central Asia and settled in the Eastern part of Europe in the 9th century AD. The clan was later called the House of Arpad, and traditionally descends from the wise and just king Nimrod, the first king on Earth.


the Gatekeeper's Red Carpet Tongue to the Otherworld

BRANDNEWOLDSOUL: ALOE BLACC New Release & Free Download

 just arrived in albuquerque, new mexico to get started on this big mural project with Chris Stain and Jacque Fragua...having an amazingly (3rd)eyeopening & inspiring time building with the local artists. my host Jaque and i were chilling, listening to music and this song came up...i can't believe that i've been sleeping on ALOE BLACC! well, better late than never, i'm definitely one of his new fans. and not surprisingly, he comes from one of my favorite record labels, Stones Throw. 

i looked him up and found out that “My purpose for music is positive social change,” says Orange County, California native Aloe Blacc. “Even if the music itself does not explicitly express anything that may signify positive social change, the product of the music will.” 

Check out a recent interview with him for Centric TV about his new album that just recently dropped. Go to stonesthrow to see his Fall tour dates and download  one of the tracks from his new album, GOOD THINGS.

Aloe Blacc - You Make Me Smile by stonesthrow

subCentric //Aloe Blacc Pt. 1 from Centric TV on Vimeo.

More Body Painting photos and the plotting of self publishing a book

So, I have my fist exhibition of my body art/photography women's study series coming up in December. All of the sudden it dawned on me that i only have a couple months before its show time so i have begun pushing myself into the final stages of the creative process. This means i have combed through the photos of each body painting session and come out with about 53 that i would like to include in a book and for display.

Here are a few yet to be posted photos that i came across and wanted to share:

Body art and photography by Chelsea Rose
From the "Mother Goddess" shoot with Michelle Davis


Body art and photography by Chelsea Rose
From the "Queen Omega" shoot with Deonte


Body art and photography by Chelsea Rose
From the "Blissful Hope" shoot.

....So yes, I have 53 photos selected for possible print( for my gallery show) and for a book that I am completing and will be self publishing. There are a lot of things to consider right now such as how many pages i want my book to be( i am thinking around 50 and that includes title page, introduction and an acknowledgements page.) So i have to go through those 53 and lower my catch to the Golden chosen. Meanwhile, Danny is working on the design and layout of the book and i have to begin writing an intro or asking someone else to write one for me. Once i have that all together i get to take a trip to the print shop and figure out if i want hard cover or soft, what kind of paper to have it all printed on and so on. Then i need to figure out how many pieces i should be printing for the gallery show/exhibition- what size they will be and how i will be framing and mattering them.
My head is spinning a little :)
So thats one big project i am devoting energy towards.
I am also working on a small painting and getting my stuff ready for Last Thursday Art walk on Alberta st which is this week!
Also, i am working on a music project with Bone and All where i am reciting poetry along with the super spacey psychedelic noise. I am not sure when the final tracks will be mastered but i will certainly be sharing when its all ready.
....So thats my news update!
Stay tuned.
-Chelsea Rose

ARTIST TO WATCH: KESED + Galaxy Ride // Dream Catcher [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Brooklyn-native MC//actor//lyrical alchemist KESED is back after having taken a matrix-deplug break from the world. A born artist at heart, he is manifesting his skills as a MC and songwriter this time. While most of us have a hard time imagining ourselves having cut off from the addictive world of the inter-net-working game, KESED took a radical year-long break from all that to refocus his direction and to work on his next project...a pretty brave move, but it proved that if you got what it takes, you don't necessarily have to maintain a virtual presence to have people still checking for you while you're refining your craft. His track Dream Catcher got leaked a couple of days before he put it up today on his own site and already made it in a few hours to a number of big music sites. 

   

These tracks come with a vision and a multidimensional storyline...On the surface it may seem like a boy-girl-romance of love lost & found, but it also has a mythical layer that takes you into Kesed's spiritual world a lot of his lyrics draw on (he claims he got his science from comic books). Pretty complex like an alchemical tale of transformation, but I would expect nothing less. 

Galaxy Ride is a future throwback paying homage to Sun Ra while riding on the super sexy disco classic GQ 'Disco Nights'...it is definitely one of my favorites, has a feel-good-get-free-get-into-the-groove fantasy spacetravel vibe. Recalls the golden days of the A.L.I.E.N fam, the collective KESED was a contributing member of. Appropriately, the cover was an illustration by one of my fav artist comrades, A.L.I.E.N founder Quan Luv that I finished off with the typography.
On the B side of the EP comes Venus; inspired by Bjork 'Venus As A Boy' takes a different pace while continuing on with the story. Venus is a tale of the separation of the sexes set in the mythic post-androgynous time when the feminine principle finds itself incarnated into the body of a boy who feels much more at home amongst the inhabitants of Venus as he's still connected with and seeking his missing half... also a metaphor for the forces of Venus-Mars/Love-War/Union-Separation. 

The single, Dream Catcher was supposed to come out a little later, but since it already got leaked and circulated, he decided to release it immediately following Galaxy Ride. Like Chuang Zu's dream of the butterfly, the protagonist finds himself questioning his own sense of reality after awakening from a nightmare... 

I've been pretty psyched about the video for this coming up and for the whole project in general. Kesed is a definite artist to watch, and I mean it beyond his musical path, also as a poet, actor and visionary.

 Stay up on his bandcamp page to get more free downloads and new stuff. If you haven't seen this, you can get a better sense for him in the feature that K-SWISS did with him.
[photo courtesy of Rahan Cotterel]

UPCOMING SHOW: painting a mural with Jaque Fragua & Chris Stain at the STREET TEXT Exhibit at Albuquerque, NEW MEXICO

I'm super psyched about this project that takes me to Albuquerque, NEW MEXICO. I was invited by fellow painter, Pueblo artist Jaque Fragua (scroll down for video) to participate in a collaborative mural project with him and Chris Stain as part for this week-long street art festival in the city. Earlier I had posted a video about him; beside being a working artist, Jaque is also an outspoken social and environmental activist with whom I've been building with for over a year-I'm really honored to be part of this. Plus I can't wait to experience the art movement outside of NYC, I'll be working on this for a whole week next week. The show is going to open on October 2nd at the 516 ARTS Gallery.

STREET TEXT is a two-part exhibition examining Street Art and its evolution into a worldwide cultural movement. The upstairs portion of the exhibition titled Art From the Coasts is curated by Andrew Connors, Curator of Art at The Albuquerque Museum. He compares masters of graffiti art from New York and Los Angeles, including the work of Chaz Bojórquez, Gajin Fujita, John Lorne and Lady Pink, as well as the documentary photography of Henry Chalfant. The downstairs portion of the exhibition titledThe Populist Phenomenon is curated by Francesca Searer of 516 ARTS. It includes a mix of local, national and international artists, and examines the artists’ work as a means of expressing a message to the masses. Featured New Mexican artists include Ernest Doty, Jaque Fragua, Stevan Gutierrez, Thomas Christopher Haag and Albert Rosales; and guest artists include Shepard Fairey, Gaia, Mark Jenkins, Alexandre Orion, Chris Stain, Slinkachu, SWOON and Chip Thomas. Work includes on and off-site installations, photographic documentation, portable representations of wheat-paste, stencil and canvas work methods and video clips and films of street artists in action. The STREET TEXT exhibition is the center of a citywide series of events titled STREET ARTS: A Celebration of Hip Hop Culture & Free Expression during October and November, presented in partnership with the ACLU-NM and involving 25 local organizations. The project celebrates art in the urban environment and explores issues of free expression. Download the Street Arts Guide. 

http://www.516arts.org/exhibitions.html

Some words from Jaque's last show in Santa Fe."Though their traditional lifeways are based in the natural world, many Native communities today find themselves deluged by trash.  Jaque Fragua's exhibit RUBBISH aka Cities of Trash features objects—steel cans, automobile parts, scrap wood, glass bottles, used tires, and loose paper—drawn from heaps on southwestern Pueblos and reservations and re-integrated into various contexts as public art. These works, from the ongoing project of artist Jaque Fragua, are designed to provoke dialogue about the exploitation of Native lands and encourage environmental conservation."

To learn more visit  or www.ccasantafe.org
Music: "Off Time" by Wilder Beasts (Hoka Skenandore, Jaque Fragua)

LUV2FUNK: DÂM-FUNK - Hood Pass Intact (Official Video, Vocal Version)

The LA equivalent of the phrase 'spread love the Brooklyn way' from the Grandmaster of Modern Funk. Keeping it true is definitely not just a lyrical phrase with Dâm-Funk who, as anyone who knows him can attest, has kept his realness all along the way to his international recognition. One of my fav tracks, the video pays homage to Dam's local LA roots.

stonesthrow.com/damfunk
Director: Henry DeMaio

Aural Visions presents: JOHNNY VOLTIK 'DO YOU' [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Here is a new release from my man, JOHNNY VOLTIK aka the Alphalove. 'DO YOU' is one of my favorites of his tracks, and was the first one I've heard (remember listening to it while driving around with him & some friends, and I yelled out, 'who is this?!!'). So I'm specially excited to introduce it as one of our brand new music/visual collabo projects. I've been doing some visuals for JV for a while and this latest one is a part of a series from a collective project called LUX27 that photographer WEZN (light painting photography) and myself (art direction, graphic design) had founded.

So back to the song, 'DO YOU' is like a psychedelic space trip riding the cosmic love frequencies to the final destination..an ascending and explosive aural journey...use your imagination.

Here are some instructions for listening from JV himself,
"This song is an experiment…follow the directions below while listening to the album version. Really try this!!!
1. Close your eyes, relax yourself and focus on your breathing. (If your mind is wandering, listen to it wander. Once you have done this you have taken control of your thoughts.) Oh yeah, have your hand on the play button but don’t press play yet!
2. When your mind is relaxed and clear, focus on your midsection. Feel the life force inside you getting more and more present.
3. Begin to feel the feeling of having that person or thing in your life. Really act as if they or it is with you. Experience the joy, the happiness, the real thing!
4. While holding that feeling press play and enjoy.
*Note: Intensify the feeling and visualization as you get to the end of the track"

Here is my footage of another favorite: JV performing 'Higher' live w/ Enki & Kira supporting on the vocals at Littlefield, Brooklyn. Check out more freebies on his website.Don't sleep, people!

JOHNNY VOLTIK "Higher" live from Lichiban EV [Electric Vision] on Vimeo.

VONY presents: The 2nd Annual VONYSpeaks Conference & Benefit Show 2010

**
Voices of New York (VONY), the organization that I've been part of as a teaching artist/ youth mentor is getting ready for its 2nd Annual VONYSpeak Benefit Conference and Show. The conference features an amazing line-up speakers, educators, activist, filmmakers and New York performing and visual artists. If you'd like to get involved or just check out what we are all about, please come and support!  (Here are  some previous VONY projects we have done in the past.) I'll be showing a collabo piece with Quan Luv along with a number of other artists/activist, such as Taagen Swa, Alice Mizrahi, The Love Movement, and Cannon & Indira Hersey.

To find out more about the program, conference schedule, and panel discussions and film, art and music program, please visit vonyconference2010.

Check out the conference PSA featuring last year's conference speakers and performers.

CHANDON LUCIEN to go...

Travel is on my mind...'Created for the distinguished tastemaker who wears the best accessories money can buy, the debut collection of Chandon Lucien includes leather bags, hats, men's jewelry and scarves.' High quality craftsmanship with an edge-dope!

.

Chandon Lucién SS2011 Lookbook - Click here to view

Chandon Lucién will make its formal debut in the heart of SoHo on Thursday, September 23rd

at 8 Bond Studio. Invited guests are key taste makers in the fashion, media, and entertainment

industries. The evening’s highlights includes DJ Lani Love, Crunch Gym passes, delectable

goodies from BiteMe Cheesecake and men’s skin care products from Anthony For Men and

Sharps. In addition, the brand will unveil its very own Chandon Lucién Ice Cream flavor, in

collaboration with Guerrilla Ice Cream; 100% of the proceeds will go to the Street Vendor

Project. via www.freshmediainc.com

Spirit Walker pen and ink drawing + painting in progress and new tie dye shirts

This weekend was one of those rainy, stay at home, draw, bake goodies and watch a bunch of movies kind of weekend.

I drew Spirit Walker:

( original pen and ink drawing by Chelsea Rose)
I have made 5"x7" prints of her available on etsy- click here!

and then i hastened to start a lil painting of her:

...work in progress shot of my lil painting. I think its a 6" x 9" stretched canvas piece. I wanted to do her large initially since she has lots of detail and the image is long but realized i had this 6" x 9" to work on. I guess small is better these days because if patron's are interested in purchasing they are generally less then the bigger paintings. But i really do adore working larger and have often dreamed of doing a mural- it will happen one day!

Speaking of big check this out:

A photograph from my body painting series has been hung in the Portland Museum of Art!!!

...just kidding...
I WISH i could print my photos this big and have a place to display them but no. I had waaay to much fun playing with this website.

In other news..... new tie dye creations for sale:

Divine Purple Green tie dye shirt
size: large
bust: 40"
hips: 50"
On sale for $20. check out the shop listing here.

Also done up in Green and Blue:

Green Blue Vortex tie dye shirt
100% cotton
bust: 43"
hips: 44"
also selling for $20 here.

and lastly:

Divine Blue Green Spiral tie dye
100% cotton

Size: 2XL
bust: 48"
hips: 50"

also for $20 here.

Anyhoo....my 13th body painting session of my series was canceled for the 18th and is now on for the 25th. So hopefully some new body painting photos shall be created soon and i shall be sharing them next week.

Peace n Love!
-Chelsea Rose

i love YODA

WHERETHEPARTYAT: SFNY w/ KON (Kon & Amir, BBE), MONI, GE-OLOGY, King Most, Mamabear, Freddy & Marky 9.19.2010

I'm excited to see my homie, KON (Kon & Amir, BBE) spin tomorrow at the next SFNY party, where he'll be spinning along with NYC's own, MONI and GE-OLOGY. KON is one of the best DJs out there, his sets always turn out the dancefloor with the sexiest disco, boogie, soul and old school hip-hop joints. Check out SFNY's interview with him here on while listening to his mix.

Also, there are mixes from the other DJs as well at www.p-r-o-p-s.com.

SFNY returns to the Big Apple just in time to kick off the beautiful autumn season in New York City... Bay Area ambassadors KING MOST, FREDDY, MARKY and DJ MAMABEAR make the East Coast connection with GE-OLOGY, DJ MONI and KON at a glorious daytime jam of feel good music, warm vibes and folks getting down in the sunshine. Enjoy tasty libations, choice beats, and a fly setting from 3pm-9pm. The Left Coast do the right thing... Fall thru!

The location for this show is secret, but you can RSVP here to get on the list.

Maternity body painting commision, new art prints for sale

Yesterday i did a maternity body painting commission for a local photographer:


His idea was that he wanted a waterfall to come over his pregnant model's shoulder, flow over the breast, pool in the belly where a small/simplistic baby would be present.
...The idea was a clear departure from my usual style which generally consists of flowy/faery/alien goddess creatures so I wasn't sure how i would render this idea. i did some sketching to find my design:

this was the sketch i decided to pull from. As you can see in the actual body painting the waterfall is really the main focus of the piece. I had fun painting it! I started out by outlining all the shapes with black. I then went in and added white highlights to the shapes, then the blue. I then colored in the infant and the sun. Once the sun was in i added some yellow/sun glow highlights to the waves as well. I had an hour and a half to paint it. I wonder how the photographer's shots came out of the body painting. I know he was shooting the photos in his home studio. I will share some of his shots when he posts them.

In other news i listed a new drawing of mine for sale in our etsy shop:

5"x7" art print of original pen and ink drawing
"Tree Maiden"
by Chelsea Rose

Print will come sealed in a crystal clear plastic sleeve to keep it safe. Our prints are made on archival canson artist card paper( has a similar feel to watercolor paper). Makes a wonderful card, gift or decoration.

Print available for $7, see shop listing here.

Also have a new "Perception Mandala" silkscreen print for sale:

Perception Mandala silkscreen
8.75" x 11"
hand printed by the artist onto yellow washed watercolor paper

This original art work comes sealed inside an archival crystal clear envelope for protection.

Selling for $20. check out the sale listing here.

...Thats it for now!
I did have a body painting planned on Saturday but it was canceled and rescheduled for the weekend of the 25th. The model i will be using is of dark skin so it will be another white paint over black skin body painting for my series. She will be my 13th model for my project.
So now that i have my Saturday free i think i will be begin a new painting inspired by a very wonderful experience i have just recently had involving a wise/shaman woman teacher who did a Life time animal totem reading for me which was a very powerful thing. I am going to explore...what my soul might look like. Should be interesting painting project, no? My core totem animal is the Otter but i also am surrounded by my other totems which are the black panther, the snake, the deer, the ant, the butterfly,the swan, the fox and the rabbit.

Have a wonderful weekend.
Best wishes and much love,
-Chelsea Rose

iRECOMMEND: RELENTLESS a film by Andy Amadi Okoroafor

I can't wait to see RELENTLESS, the debut film of my friend, Andy Amadi Okoroafor. Art director, visionary, nomad, founder/ owner of my favorite creative arts & fashion magazine, CLAM, Andy has been working for the last couple of years on this project that showcases his skill as a director and visual story teller. Shot in two different countries, Freetown Sierra Leone and Lagos Nigeria, the movie is not only visually beautiful but it also boasts an amazing soundtrack that will most likely become as iconic as the score for "Shaft or "The Harder They Come". A mixture of contemporary Nigerian music, 60's highlife tunes and popular African tunes, the films feature tracks from the Nubians, Keziah Jones, Patrice, Ayo, Femi Kuti, and internationally known artists like Manu Chao, Sade, Seal, among others. Also featuring in her debut film role another favorite, Nigerian-German singer NNEKA. As far as the story goes, Andy's own words describe it best:
"I see Relentless as a story told through innovative contemporary images. It is not a voyeuristic eye, it is participative and engaged, it is an insider perspective and the form of the images is a vital element of the film. I want the film to look under the surface, to look at Africa with a new intensity.

Relentless is a love story, a story about war, loneliness, and the workings of the human soul. It is a simple story of ordinary people finding themselves in extra ordinary situations, acting out their destiny. It is not a political story but it is about the effects of war and thus the backdrop is a component to the film, but not the hero.

Though set in Freetown Sierra Leone and Lagos Nigeria, the story could easily have been anywhere in Africa; Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Congo, Rwanda; It is an African story, but also a universal tale. An African story in its landscape and particular circumstances, but a universal story in its characters, its heart and theme.

Relentless deals with the consequence of wars on the psyche of the contemporary African. From Rwanda (genocide), the Congo (the African world war), Burundi (ethnic struggle for power) to Cote d'Ivoire and Darfur. Wars with different ramifications, and brutality, Liberia and later Sierra Leone was at the vanguard of these brutal conflicts of which the biafran war into which our hero Obi was born is one the first in a long list of conflicts that has distorted Africa.

The film has the ambition of exploring Africa beyond the news headlines, sound bites and statistics. It is about looking at Africa from a contemporary point of view. It's about the little people; the ones nobody reports after the satellite transmission dishes have been folded and moved to another cliché. I want Relentless to also be a mirror for African society to look at itself, criticise itself, and celebrate itself.

I am making this film so that Africans would love it and be challenged by it. The world hopefully would follow. I want anybody in the world to identify with the characters and emotions in the film. Africans are believers and we somehow believe a hero will come and save us, he's not shown up and the present African generation is still looking for the new Nkrumah’s, Mandela’s, people with vision and clarity of thought. Hard to produce in refugee camps, running under fire in a world of kid soldiers.

Relentless, is a celebration of Africa, the music, the sensuality, the joy, the jokes and the laughter, the energy, the sheltering sky and the hope that the good men will prevail. It is also a film about Lagos, the biggest African city and how ordinary people navigate this challenging untamed urban jungle. From the security guard to the prostitute, from the big time politician hoping to pull the strings of power, to the okada driver hoping to make it big.

Finally, it is an acknowledgement of the possibilities that lie in the modern African experience; it is to shine the world's light on us, if not for our ingenuity, at least the acknowledgement of our will to survive.
I am hoping to tell that African story through film, like Fela did with his Afro beat music and Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka did through literature and touched the world." ...to read more visit clamfilms.com

RELENTLESS will be featured at the 54th BFI London Film Festival on October 13-18, 2010. Stay tuned for US show dates

ERYKAH BADU on BILAL // BILAL's "Airtight's Revenge" is out now

Today is the official release date for BILAL's highly-anticipated new album, "Airtight's Revenge". Check out what the beautiful Erykah Badu has to say about him

Erykah Badu speaks on Bilal from bilal oliver on Vimeo.

Please support true artistry by buying the album, you won't regret it! Some words from plugresearch

"We are very excited to announce the day has finally come. This is as special of a day to us as the first record we released, 15 years ago. Its been an amazing journey and we hope that you feel our latest endeavor as much as we do. Find it here on this site if you would like to support us in our efforts."

Amazon : here

Itunes : here. The itunes version has the banging bonus track that we think you guys will appreciate!

Zune : here

CROWN YOUR HEART: Robert Palmer : Every Kinda People

one of the songs my dad used to listen to back in the days...i didn't even understand the lyrics back then. brings me some intense emotional childhood flashbacks. thanks to my boy, KON for bringing it back to my memory (check out his new mix that has this song)

Mermaid Dreams- finished painting + painting process photos

I finished her...i finally finished my mermaid, whom i have been fighting with for months now!

Mermaid Dreams
20" x 24"
Original acrylic painting by Chelsea Rose
$330( see sale listing here )

....I am kinda surprised at how long i took to paint this one! I began painting her on canvas in July but the initial pen and ink drawing that inspired the painting came way way before then:

"Love thy Self"
original pen and ink drawing by Chelsea Rose
Prints are available for $7 here.

......she was a quick drawing that i made last year sometime. Initially i loved her pose and the feelings she conveyed but disliked the drawing. Eventually i decided to make prints available and quickly noted she became one of my best selling drawings.

I also ended up making a pen and ink over acrylic version which was done on masonite for a commision. I created an extra one in yellow... which i still have:

...she is up for sale as well, going for $40. Check out the listing here.

After some time i felt the need to do a big acrylic painting of a mermaid and decided to model it after my pen and ink drawing above.
So i used the original drawing and projected the image onto canvas where i traced the basic outlines to create the framework of the painting.

A snapshot of the paintings humble beginnings:


...this shows the very first layering's of color i began with. I was still in the "feeling things out" stage at this point. If you compare it to the finished product a bunch of these changed!

....as you can see here the very first thing i did was restructure the face and remake the headdress/hair. I got rid of the lil bindy and added a third eye instead. The lil "nubs" i had sprouting from the head wasn't cutting it so i added, tentacles, fin like dread tendrils instead- which was a lot of fun to paint because of all the lil loops and spirals i got to play with.

....I took the painting out to a few of the local art fairs so that i could work on her while i was tending the booth. It was this day that i did a lot of work on the tail. As seen here i added a lot more side fin to the lower tail. I was also beginning to contemplate the stark emptiness of the background and was throwing around the idea of adding fish, another mermaid....anything!
I was happy to get a lot of questions and general interest when out and about with the painting but what was most bazaar is almost everyone asked me if i was painting MYSELF as the mermaid. I really had not intended this to be some kind of self portrait but a lot of people insisted on it. This made me smile and remember something someone very close to me said as a lil girl. My mom worked for an old Hebrew mystic who was also an amazing painter( he was very old school and used egg tempera paint that he made himself) and he used to always say to me " A true artist only ever paints themselves," wether they mean it or not- this always made me giggle.

( sorry for this photos horrid quality)
....Here you can see i added big poofy hip side fins and finally began to remedy the "emptiness" of the background with bubbles.
The bubbles started out here and there...and i really liked the depth they began to suggest so i decided to keep them and expand upon them bit by bit.

....the bubbles kept on multiplying. I started adding smaller lil jets of silvery bubbles and made the bottom of the canvas a darker blue to help hint at deep dark sea.
I took the above photo on my birthday- Aug.15 and so the painting sat untouched for quite some time. I was pretty unhappy with it at this point. I felt all the bubbles crowded the image...and i detested the fact that it was now time to work on the hands( my least fave part of any drawing/painting i do.) The painting was pretty much in this same state when i finally promised myself i would finish it up this past weekend- no matter what!
I did all the finishing work in about 6 hours which included darkening the bottom sea again, adding more bubbles, removing some bubbles, adding more shimming light from above, going back into all the of color for one last "ping" of color, going over all the black outlines and adding more spiraling and detail, added a few more spiral tendrils of hair, more color and volume to the closed eyelids, blue to skin and lips( to make her look more like she is in water), and finally the hands( which i spent about a half an hour muttering and cursing under my breath as i worked at them in a frenzy to some extremely horrible and chaotic sitar music...and was very close to having a nervous breakdown. Luckily Danny saved me by turning the music off which kind of broke the spell and i was able to get the hands to somewhat behave finally.)

So yes...she is done! Did i mention i love mermaids very muchly so and they have always been a folk symbol that i deeply identified with? I was drawing bare breasted mermaids when i was 5 and never did stop. I grew up at the beach, lolling in the whiteraff with my legs firmly held together as i pretended to be a lovely flesh eating mermaid hunting the local tourists and surfers.
They will always fascinate me and when ever i am in the water- be it a pool, ocean or river you ll see me swimming fast and furious, legs held firmly together like a mermaid.

Much love and many blessings,
-Chelsea Rose

P.S.
Lots of body painting coming up. This Thursday i will be doing a paid commission body painting with a local photographer. On Saturday i will be doing a body painting of mine for my body painting series. So stay tuned.

NEW WORK: THE GATEWAY (Goddess from the Jaguar Lux Clan)

New character revealed from Citraka:

Goddess from the Jaguar Lux Clan manifesting Catships through mental projections

detail from a new piece that I've been working on for the last two weeks with fellow visionaries Quan Luv and MEGA for a mural project High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media in Canarsie, Brooklyn involving artists such as Maya Hayuk, Michael De Feo, Thundercut, Toofly, The Love Movement & several others ...more behind the scenes photos and details from my collaborators coming soon.

Big shout out to my West coast fam, The Love Movement for making this whole project happen!

The making of Perception Mandala screen print + more

Made it to Friday not without a few bumps along the way...but here we are. Another weekend is on its way. If only i could motivate myself to finish my Mermaid painting....she is almost done, i am not sure why i have had no interest to work on her what so ever. I guess i will just have to chain myself to my painting table till its done this weekend! We shall see...

Danny just recently created a new silkscreen:

Blue Perception Mandala silkscreen
8.75" x 11"
hand printed by the artist onto green washed watercolor paper
-Just listed this print into our etsy shop for $25. check out the listing here.

This silkscreen was created using the drawing fluid/screen filler method of production instead of the photo emulsion process. Personally i much prefer this drawing fluid method and had used it in creating my first two silkscreen prints: "The Goddess in All of Us" and "Behold."

What is super cool is we were able to fully document the creation process for the "Perception Mandala" drawing fluid silkscreen.
Check it out:

The first 6 photos show the design being hand painted onto the screen using the blueish colored "drawing fluid."
The next 15 photos show the design fully painted on the screen and the process of spreading the "screen filler" which is reddish colored over the design and the entire screen.
The next 6 images show how the drawing looks with its coat of screen filler- also shows how the drawing fluid begins to crack as the screen filler dries.
The last three images show Danny rinsing the screen which ,as seen in the last photo, removed the blue drawing fluid to reveal empty screen where the design was drawn.
Thus, the "drawing fluid" resits the screen filler which then creations a workable silkscreen.
Interesting, no?

And here is a print done on a cotton shirt:

This shirt is listed for sale in our etsy shop. Its going for $15. check out the listing here.
....if the shirt is too small, or you want it in a different color and shirt style please don't hesitate to request a custom order!

In other news, we also just listed a new tie dye skirt:



We are calling this tie dye creation " Purple Sky Maiden."
I listed her in our shop last night and she has already been put on hold/reserved for one of our frequent patrons. But have no fear- more tie dye is soon to appear.

More art, coming soon.
-Chelsea Rose
Lucid Optic Lab

FREE DOWNLOAD & VIEW: EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP

Exit Through The Gift Shop is a story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner with spectacular results. Billed as 'the world's first street art disaster movie' the film contains exclusive footage of Banksy, Shephard Fairey, Invader and many of the world's most infamous graffiti artists at work. Written by Sundance Film Festival

I just found a link to view the film for free online...I guess posting a film to view online while it's still debuting around the country is true to the prankster spirit of Banksy...

FOLLOW THE LINK TO WATCH IT.

ARTIST TO WATCH: ONRA

1 minute & 40 seconds with ONRA during a dj set on Domeright Radio Show 88.2 Génération FM, Paris. ONRA is making big waves in Europe and is gearing up for a US tour...don't sleep on his album! Check out an interview I did with him earlier this year here.

Footage from his new album's LONG DISTANCE release party held in Paris on June 19th, 2010 at the Bellevilloise accompanied by Walter Mecca and Buddy Sativa, two of the other artists you should also check out from France.

Follow his updates on twitter.

THE RETURN OF CRAZYAWESOME: BILAL: 'Airtight's Revenge' drops next week! September 14th on Plug Research

Back in June, I was invited to be part of BILAL's private listening party at his recording studio in New York. I first heard the album in its entirety while driving to Philly back in the spring, when he was performing at the same fundraiser for Haiti that I was booked to live paint at, but this listening party was the first time I heard it on a real sound system. I've listened to it innumerable times since and it still has the same impact.

The highly-anticipated "Airtight's Revenge" is one of the landmark albums of the year, and undoubtedly will score many awards (def Grammys-material). It is one of those groundbreaking records that defies all the boxes and labels people have been trying to force BILAL into...(it is time to drop the derivative 'Neosoul singer' label which he never really identified with). Classically-trained with a range of an opera singer and the dynamism of a rockstar, BILAL's spectrum of musical background ranges from jazz, soul, R&B as well as funk, pop, rock, hip-hop and electronic music, and this album is a true testament to his genius not only as a singer but as a producer and songwriter who can make music that pays homage but transcends the limitations of genres. Like Prince or David Bowie, BILAL is his own genre, and this album proves that without a doubt. Born from the ashes of his disappointing relation with his previous label, Interscope, Airtight's Revenge is a true labor of love & personal struggle and victory. With this album, BILAL took his time to find a label that would give him the artistic freedom his vision required to fully manifest (for instance, Interscope would tried to control who produced his songs and would make him write love songs based on market demands). LA-based independent label Plug Research, which has Shafiq Husayn, Exile, and Quadron on its roster, have recognized that an artist like him needs total green light because real music comes from a place of creative freedom and no one else could do the job better than he himself.

BILAL worked with a small crew of close friends who have supported him from the inception of the project, like Steve McKie (Jill Scott, Estelle, Kindred, Vivian Green) who co-produced the album with Bilal, as well as Nottz (Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Drake), 88 Keys (Mos Def, Macy Gray, Musiq Soulchild), and Shafiq Husayn of Sa-Ra and Tone Whitefield, which makes the project all the more intimate and real. It is more guitar-driven and experimental than his previous albums, but the end product is a bigger, more cinematic sound, that will sweep huge outdoor festivals the same way it will more unusual venues.

Like I heard Michael Jackson, Prince or Dam-Funk stress before, good music comes from the heart---this project has definitely got that heart-piercing emotional soulpower which you can feel while listening (only topped by hearing him perform live)...it is an emotionally charged personal journey through BILAL's life moments and visions, at points dark (Flying) and political (Robots, The Dollar) at others spiritual (Who Are You, All Matter) with an underlying forward-seeking, elevating tone (Move On, Restart, Who Are You) and a power to uplift and transform one's life. It stands in the line of the best works of Frank Zappa, Miles Davis, Erykah Badu, David Bowie, or Radiohead to mention only a few.

Please show your support for true artistry by not bootlegging the album.

You can PRE-ORDER the CD or the Vinyl (comes with digital tracks as well) on plugresearch.

Connect with him on twitter & vimeo to get the latest updates.

New Yorkers can see him live on September 18th at BB King. For tickets and more info, follow link.

[note: the correct album title is 'Airtight's Revenge & the song is 'Flying'..I didn't have the full album info yet]

You can pre-LISTEN to the tracks on nrp.org

Check him talk about the album on his recent interview on Greedmont Park.

[via Greedmont Park.] Make sure to check out part 1 & 2 where he talks about his musical background and his musical carrier collaborating with Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, 88Keys and others.

Also check out another interview that sheds light on Bilal's less known spiritual side as well that my NY fam, Nikki NTU & Thony Remy had produced for Young, Gifted and Black here.

ARTIST TO WATCH :: Walter Mecca 'Gaab Squad'

New video by one of my favorite artists from Paris, time-traveling sounddoctor WALTER MECCA for 'Gaab Squad' a track off of his debut album Tonnerre. Check out my earlier interview with him here.

New Pen and Ink drawings + weekend projects and news

3 day weekends are a total blessing, i got a lot of work done!
Too bad i was oblivious to this fact come Monday morning. I got up for work 10 mins after my alarm was to go off... so i threw on my clothes, grabbed a hard-boiled egg and ran out the door to get to my bus stop. Got there 2 mins early and waited....and waited...and waited and then thought to-myself " why have i only seen a few cars go bye? why is this Monday so eerily quiet?" And... then i looked across the street to a stores signboard that read " Happy Labor day!"
.... So i laughed at myself, went home, watched "Howls Moving Castle" for probably the 42nd time and did some drawing:

Original pen and ink drawing by Chelsea Rose

-this was drawn for a commission I am working on currently. A patron requested I do smaller somewhat more "approachable" version of my other tree maiden painting called Rainbow Roots Dread Goddess. Hopefully she likes this preliminary drawing and i will soon be painting her on canvas.

I like the drawing enough to be considering offering prints of her for sale. what do you think?

Saturday and Sunday were also project filled art days.

As you can see my art table got quite busy in the process which resulted in a few finished pieces that are now available for purchase:

Green River Spirit:


Green River Spirit
8"x 10"
pen and ink drawing over acrylic paint on Masonite board
by Chelsea Rose

Gloss varnished and ready to hang as is.
Just listed for $40. check out the listing here.

also in blue:

Blue River Spirit
8"x 10"
pen and ink drawing over acrylic paint on Masonite board
by Chelsea Rose

Gloss varnished and ready to hang as is.
also selling for $40. Check out listing for more details and photos here.

Also made one that i put on SALE :

8"x 10"
pen and ink drawing over acrylic paint on Masonite board
by Chelsea Rose

Gloss varnished and ready to hang as is.
(colors in picture may vary slightly from original art work)

* This is a SALE item due to a small defect in the gloss varnish that can be seen in the last photo of this listing.
On SALE for only $20. view this sale listing here.

And lastly here is my Yellow Gowned Fae:

9" x 7"
pen and ink drawing over acrylic paint on Masonite board
by Chelsea Rose

Gloss varnished and ready to hang as is.
Selling for $25. available for purchase here.

And if you are curious about how i make these here is the scoop:

First i start out by painting a canvas or board with a single color of acrylic paint. I am then using india ink pens to draw directly ontop of the acrylic color. Often i am by hand reproducing some of my original drawings this way and because of this hands on process each one comes out slightly different in lineweight and detail. I have found this process works really well in creating an elegant and original art piece that i can sell for a very affordable price.
I have many more available for purchase in my etsy shop.

Also, over the weekend i had fun matting and framing some of my recent 4" x 6" watercolor paintings:


Harpy in Moonlight.


Faery ah Glow


Fish of Perception


Conversation with a Pixie

......i found it really interesting how different the paintings looked when framed! Honestly its the first time i have nicely framed any of my work and i really enjoyed it. Too bad matting and framing can be so expensive because it can really make a huge difference presentation wise.

...Anyhow the ongoing list of projects continue. For this week's Friday blogpost i will be showing a step by step "work in progress" documentation involving silk screening and the drawing fluid method.
I also have a few body painting sessions coming up so stay tuned.

Best wishes,
-Chelsea Rose