Joseph and Bill

Yesterday evening I met the cast of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and enjoyed watching their rehearsal for a while.  They sound fantastic, the blocking is original and they're lots of fun to watch!  There is lots of talent in this cast!

On a break, I took some head shots for Bill.  He has acted in many productions and is a gifted actor.  I met him when we were both in Shenandoah Moon, his character was my character's father-in-law.  We didn't have long to work before they needed him again, but we got some good shots and some silly ones also.  Rehearsals take place at Covenant Presbyterian and it's a really beautiful classic Greco-Roman church, it made a great photo shoot location.

Happy Creating,

Carmen Rose

I Love the View From Here

Views from Studio B this week:

 Standing on this hill, I can see for miles
Creation moves my soul with childlike wonder
All the shades of earth
The grays, greens and browns
The blue and white maned sky
And the only words that come
I say like a prayer
I love the view from here

by Brian Doerkson 

I remember how that song captured my attention when I first heard it, and it often comes to mind when I stand and absorb the beauty of a place. 

Take the time
Stop and absorb

-Carmen Rose

Good Publicity!

"The Art of a Woman" is over and I'm starting to get copies of the various papers.  Here is the Daily News Record's post on the "See and Do" page:  This one features photos of Jill and Lindsey. 

Text of the article is here:
http://www.rocktownweekly.com/rocktown/focus.php?AID=3600

Then the same article is in "Rocktown Weekly" with a whole different look!  This one features Barbara!

Look how pretty the cover image is on their website, in print it still looks good.

The the lovely Ashley is on the Table of Contents page:

Along with our lovely ladies in frames in the middle of the paper.  Ashley, Juliette, Lindsey, Barbara and Jill.

I am very pleased with how this came out. I believe there is another article out there yet that I haven't seen. I was interviewed at the event and it all went by so quickly that I don't remember the gentlemen's name or paper, but I hope to see a copy of that one soon!

Happy creating!
-Carmen Rose

Changing Seasons (And a Sneak Peak)

Wow, I have really gotten behind on blogging.  The goal is one a day, but the reality lately...  Oh well, it IS my blog, it's an opportunity for self expression, not an obligation!  So... how about another sneak peak from "The Art of a Woman" series.  This is Laura, "She is... a unique as a snowflake")  And there are lots of tiny little airbrushed snowflakes on her shoulders, arms and neck!  Branches from my dogwood in her hair and a lovely vintage necklace that someone gave me along the line somewhere.  The wrap is a luxurious bamboo fleece fabric that is just too soft for words!

And... if you put the lovely Laura together with:

 

Lindsey, Diana and Jill...

One gets the feel of changing seasons.

The Art of a Woman

She is... changing with the seasons.

One more coming soon.  The show is Friday, if you are in the area please do come on out and see the models in the display window at Oasis Gallery.  Oh what fun we will have!!

Happy Creating,

Carmen Rose

Bird Watching in the Snow

Another low key day here, I am enjoying some alone time. I wrote to a bunch of State delegates, senators and the governor this morning for my boss, that was fun. Later on I drove up to the 'Burg to meet an artist to touch base on a project we are working on, only she didn't show. Silly me, driving all that way to be stood up. I made it back in time for band practice at church. There were two guys on guitar, a guy on drums, and me playing the keys. The leader and I have voices that really work well together, so it's fun to harmonize with him.

I sent some freshly dyed skirts, cami's and scarves through the wash, I ironed them when I got home this evening and I'm pleased with how they turned out. I'm curled up watching some Olympic figure skaters. The costumes interest me sometimes as much as anything. It sure is a sequin and sparkle kind of sport. I am loving the feathers on the hands of the one contestant.

I have some more costumes to get finished up before the photo shoots later this week. I need to find a few more models also. I was delighted to hear that a local paper has expressed interest in a an article on my "The Art of a Woman" That should be fun. (Photos from earlier in this week when I was bird watching in the snow.)

A Sneek Peek...

A little sneak peek at our second photo shoot. This lovely woman is Barbara and she's most comfortable in vintage clothing and since that seemed so perfectly "her" I went with it. (Though nothing in this shot is actually vintage except for those amazing gloves.) Each woman in the series has a different phrase and hers is: "She is Mysterious"

She brought a lot of herself to this project, and brought along some great props as well. I think this photo may have been taken while she was waiting on me to finish up the necklace she wore for the shoot. More photos to come!

I'm still looking for six more models for this project and the publicity stunt in March. Everything is "weather permitting" around here since we're gotten so much snow and more is in the forecast for tomorrow. *Please* let there be school tomorrow!

Looks like I've been nominated to be on the board of a local gallery, that's interesting. We'll see how that goes. I'm also doing makeup for a local theater production of "Saving Grace" which is a cute little show that will be put on in March by Waynesboro Players. The cast is only five people and it should be fairly simple as far as the makeup and hair goes. It will be fun.

I ran across an interesting quote and am curious what you think of it:

"Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distills a poison in the wine. And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night." It's from Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet and I stumbled upon it here. Perhaps it is an overstatement of a principle that we should not ignore. Interesting food for thought, right?

I'm loving what I'm doing right now with this project, it's work that feels right to me. Wishing you the work that feels like play to you. This project is just playing "dress up" for adults, and who wouldn't love that?! (More photos coming!!)

With Gratitude,
-Carmen Rose

She is... Beginning to Bloom

Some floral inspiration:




That's some great inspiration, right?
Great inspiration and some great raw materials:
A beautiful woman, her name is Jill.

A couple yards of hand dyed fabric in a color gradation from yellow to fuchsia.

Some olive (about five different shades of greens and earthy tones) procion dye for the clothing...

A little time and attention to making petals...

Plus a handful of sunflower seeds, some moss covered wire, some spirit gum and mineral makeup

And then a very patient model who let me put it all together...

And a funny little red cardinal who sat on her shoulder for a moment.  (And then fell off!) 

I don't have any photos back from the photo shoot yet, that will take some time.  This was just one I snapped when I had the chance.  So... more photos coming.  I think one of my favorite parts were the jewelry on her wrists and ankles/feet which you can't even see.  And another angle would better show her head gear, but patience... photos are coming.

Nothing like a creative day in the studio hard at play...  If I could give that to you as a gift, I sure would.  Because there is nothing like loving what you do!  Nothing like it!

Playing hard,
-Carmen Rose 

New Kitchen Details

I posted this "before" photo... well.. uh... before. But I have to keep reminding myself that it's the same place, just getting rid of THAT FLOOR made a big difference in how I felt about the room.

We changed out the lighting and painted the walls blue.  The cabinets (in that section at least) are painted, the hinges came and we were able to get the doors back on. Believe me, I'm grateful for that! And I really really like my polymer clay covered knobs on the upper cabinets and the simple black ones on the lower ones. I'm not usually into details like a polymer clay handle, that but this time it feels right.  It seems like it might be a good idea to go back and paint the toe kick, huh?!  Funny, it didn't occur to any of us working on the project at the time.  And now it's on my list.  I LOVE my new floor!  That project seemed to take forever but I am pleased with the result!

So... let's see.  Here we have a little of my hand painted glass.  A framed photography grouping that spells out the word "PEACE" with photographs I took around my adopted home town a while back.  I took two weeks walking around town looking at things and photographing everything that looked like an alphabet letter.  THAT was fun!  Try it sometime, it's a creative exercise in adjusting your vision to see beyond what you think is in front of you.  Alphabet photography got popular and then started to look a little kitchy to me.  Oh well.  I photographed the entire alphabet, the Q was one of the harder ones to find but I have a good one!  You may recognize that little floral quilt from a recent blog post.  And also the open sign from my gallery in the old days.  So far so good.  Feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Updating the Kitchen

I played catch up at my house today. I don’t have much to show for my day but I was SO busy yesterday that I welcomed a little peace and quiet today.  Plus I have some physical things happening right now that seem to be sapping my strength.  Just catching up on email took some doin and I still have a few I haven't worked through yet. I did get a little nap though, which was lovely. And… I have a few kitchen details to share. I really should save this little detail for last, but it’s my very fav, so here goes.

Ages ago when I reworked the bathrooms, I had floating shelves made. In the small bathroom I painted them brown, and in the larger bathroom I painted them black.  And I ended up with two extra floating shelves that hadn’t found homes in the house yet. So when I took a look at one of the problem areas of my kitchen, I decided to try putting a shelf there.

This is what it looked like when I met my kitchen for the first time. It was a little messy but I didn't care, they were preparing to auction the place off. Now see how the cabinets end on the left by the doors instead of going all the way to the wall? That always puzzled me, why did they do that? We keep those french doors closed because the dogs don't have run of the house, and because we don't heat the whole thing. So... that left a very odd looking configuration of cabinets. We ended up keeping one of the dog crates there, but that didn't answer the question of what to do in that wierd corner. So this is what I did:

It works, right?  At least for now.  It needs a light, that's on the list.

The framed piece is a photograph I took 3-5 years ago.  Those beautiful trees in the foreground were bulldozed to make way for an overlook on Warm Springs Mountain in Virginia.  It was sad to see them go but the overlook is a beautiful place to stop and consider the beauty of the valley spread out below and the rippling mountains in the distance.  I love that place and places like that in the mountains.  I call that photograph "Last Stand" because those trees were sacrificed for "progress."  The vases are both ones I painted.

The cookbook shown there is my recent Christmas present to myself, it's by Ina Garten.  It is the first of... six I think?  Yeah, those cookbooks are such a work of art that I wanted to display it as if it was a small framed painting.  "Hey, why not?!"  (She says that on her show a lot!)  That reminds me, I need to get my birthday present to myself ordered, I think I'd like another Ina Garten cookbook!  =)

Drop me a comment and let me know what you think!

Happy Creating,

-Carmen Rose

King Sized Project

It has been a busy week here. Some wholesale and internet orders really pushed me on Monday. And I have a big show Saturday so we'll see how that all comes together. This weekend I'll be showing quite a combination of work including art glass, photography, garnished poems, jewelry, soap and some fine art prints. The combinations of the different art medias are fun because I love color and the displays tend to be drenched in delicous colors, full of vibrant life. I love it!

Speaking of vibrant colors and full of life... Over the last two days my mother-in-law and I have pieced a King size quilt. It will be quilted by the ladies of her church and then sold at auction to raise money for the relief efforts of Mennonite Central Committe. A few years ago Sheril said she'd like to make one for the auction and I chimed in and said I'd be delighted to help. A year ago we picked out the fabrics and when I saw them again I remembered why I loved them. This year we pulled out the stack of fabric and my old drawing and from there emerged a quilt top that I am really happy with. It is our habit for me to design and cut the quilt, for Sheril to sew and for a third person to iron. I'm usually quick enough to keep the other two consistantly busy and hopefully on track with sewing the right parts together. And in this orderly fashion we can quickly finish complicated projects. This time we didn't have the third person and we both ironed at times but it still went very quickly and the quilt top looks great. I'll post photos when I get a chance but for now you'll just have to take my word for it.

Just a few items from the flurry

I have been very busy since my last post. And there is almost too much water under the bridge to fit in one post. I’ve posted my line of Garnished Poems on Etsy and also on my website. Going back through these was an interesting exercise since I haven’t looked at them since early this year. And some of them still feel very fresh to me. As always there are some I like better than others. Here is one favorite.

I’ve also posted my black and white alphabet photography series on Etsy and also on my website. I really love how graphic and quirky these alphabet photographs are when made into words. It is so fun to choose the letters that fit best from a visual perspective. It took quite some time to get all those photographs resized down to little tiny internet files but I’m happy with how things look. I had to add copyright protection information which I found rather annoying but it’s wise to protect the investment from those who would just save and print out my work as if it were their own. Anyone coming from my website can get to the Etsy page to make the purchase. I hope it’s an easy interface for most folks. I love the whole idea of these photographs. Actually, this has really led me to fall in love with the alphabet all over again. Seems strange, I know, but I love the simple graphic elements of the alphabet. It has me transfixed and I have projects waiting in the wings for a little time to complete them. More alphabet photography! Yes! I’ll be having more of that!



All the work on Etsy and my website has led to a complete overhaul of the site. An completely new look and I’ve tried some things I’ve left alone in the past. Surf on over and let me know what you think. CarmenRoseStudio.com

I’ve also been busy in the studio making soap. And I have a major event this weekend or else I’d spend some time making photos of the latest soaps and post them. I want to get that product line posted on Etsy and my website as soon as I can but it won’t be this week. I’ve gotten some reactions to the soaps now and am delighted to see that they go over beautifully. I’ll be selling soap and mineral makeup at the local Farmer’s Market. I wouldn’t have considered that a year ago but now it seems like it may be a good way to meet people in the town I call home these days.

Yeah, I make the mineral makeup that I wear but am still in the beginning stages of making a product line. I gotta tell ya, I love the products that I’ve made so far! I’ve made a skin care (not a cosmetic) combination of minerals, green tea and vitamin E that I wear under my makeup and at night. I’m completely amazed by what the simple combination has been able to do for my skin. Plus… since all mineral makeup is NOT created equal and there are a lot of products out there touting “Mineral Makeup” that actually have ingredients that are HARMFUL and known irritants… well, let’s just say I’m delighted to be making a product that I know is good for my skin and just happens to look great on me. Plus, I managed an exact match to my skin tone. You can’t say that everyday… my makeup matches me! Yay! Anyway, how did I get on that tangent?

I have a big event this weekend that has completely hijacked my schedule and I don’t mind a bit. It will be a great opportunity to share my work with a diverse group of people and support a great cause.

A thunder storm is blowing up and I must get home and let the border collies inside so they don't freak out completely.
ta ta