The Wool Company

Despite roasting in a studio yesterday along with 5 other models for an exciting shoot involving ghosts, cliffs & scaffolding(!!!) I feel like autumn is considering stopping twiddling its thumbs today and sadly, yet beautifully, hitting us with some cooler air...

To get over this shock (and also because I was, quite frankly, knackered, after non-stop shoots galore plus the horrible news that my doggie suffered heart failure while away; she is now on 3 different medications per day, poor thing (and we are grappling with the trauma - for all parties - of having to shove little tiny pieces of 'make-you-better-I-promise' down her little throat), and she is dealing incredibly well with her gorgeous little heart beating at several million miles an hour to cope with all that's going on in there; seriously, I know it sounds weird, but the X-rays of her tiny little body were adorable!), I decided to take a nap this afternoon and make the most of a recent purchase: welcome The Wool Company's mattress topper.

Wow. My entire bed is anew. Not that there was much wrong with it before; but seriously, I feel like it has new soft, floaty depths!

Gorgeous, afore-mentioned piglet certainly agrees (click to enlarge):

(yes, I have a rose on my pillowcase!)

Anyway, back (more directly) to The Wool Company. I'm delighted to be able to say that I'm their 'face'(/body), having recently shot for the second time around the moors and beaches of Cornwall, and finding their lovely website adorned with pictures of my mug and windswept hair. It's such a huge pleasure to shoot for them and I'm already looking forward to next season's photoshoot. After spending a couple of nights at the family's farmhouse I felt very much at home, and loved chatting to Harry and Sarah in the evening about music and life as much as snuggling up to the wool capes and cashmere scarves on little bridges and next to lakes. Definitely my cup of tea, that sort of thing! :-)

I obviously had to make the most of the discount I was kindly offered and purchased a few things of my own after the shoot, one of which I'm wearing below (clue; I look particularly happy in it!). I just think it's so nice to own things that feel so beautifully made and of the kind of quality that has you dreaming of autumn/winter nights by the fire...

Some shots and screengrabs:

 And in other news, I duck into La Galleria in Picadilly last night after a shoot in London to have a quick look at the painting 'Access to Justice' by Andrew Brady, which I posed for (as Justice herself!). I was pleased to get a text from Andy just beforehand telling me he'd won the 'People's Choice' award! The exhibition, 'Injustice', was run by London Legal Support Trust in association with Arts for Justice and you can see the entries here.

Here's 'Access to Justice':

About the artwork:  'Painted especially for this exhibition, this piece is an  allegory for the way in which the disadvantaged in society find it difficult to gain proper access to justice. Justice here is represented by the figure on the right; she is blind, which traditionally represents her impartiality.The bejewelled figure in the centre represents those with money, influence or power; able to gain the ear of Justice while at the same time obstructing the figure on the left, who, with her threadbare blouse represents the disadvantaged. Making cuts to Legal Aid is one of the greatest injustices in our country today.'

Electric blue, rain, shapes; workshop & London exhibition

In stark contrast to the blog post below, I will leave it completely to you to imagine how this image was created. It's a weird, freaky one - I love it!

(Taken by the ever-eccentric-in-a-good-way Eric Kellerman at a Dobbelmen workshop he and his colleague hosted, during my visit to the Netherlands last month. It was really fun to see what weird and wonderful shapes and patterns we could create!)

I had a really blissful time shooting in France recently (images on their way..!) and was picked up by a taxi, once back in London, to rush to the evening private view for a painter's exhibition I am currently featured in. I felt very jet set and glam (in my rain-sodden hippie dress and wet feet.... Upon arriving in London, a man even took it upon himself to mention to me that my long dress was going to get wet at the bottom(!). Ha.) Anyway, it was fun to spot 4 new drawings of myself I'd never seen before (I'm rarely allowed to view the results in situ...) and I was struck, as always, by the immense talent and vision of the artist across the whole exhibition. It's lovely (and unsurprising) to see that at least one piece I modelled for had sold already.

Right, over and out - just a quick update. Gallons and gallons of images to come very soon; I'm herding them up gratefully to show on here from the incredibly generous and creative types who have pointed their lenses at me in recent weeks...

Actually, in other, tentative, should-I-mention-this news, I'm working towards a poetry collection on the subject of appearance/reality/identity/performance. Same old preoccupation... But I'm gathering a significant section of thought on the concept of 'muse-dom'. It's a lot of fun. I would publish things here but then that would mess up copyright/permissions, etc etc. (That's the annoying part.)

By the Seaside and The Beauty of Women

I hope everyone is having a happy new year so far... I've been feeling a tiny bit ill (and so a tiny bit grumpy), but am definitely making the most of small pleasures; as if stationery didn't make me happy enough as it already is, I today discovered that staples are available in different colours while on an incredibly boring but necessary jaunt to buy a new receipt file (the joys of keeping things for SIX YEARS). Pink, blue, green and yellow. My inner fourteen year-old girl is buzzing. I also got some very beautiful new towels today; I am easily pleased (well, that's not strictly true, but for the purposes of this blog post let's say I am). And I'm doing pretty well with my extreme multi-tasking idea; I want to improve my German and French this year, morphing the knowledge I have into actual practical confidence, to be tested later in the year on various trips, and am squeezing in some audio lessons during very short stints on my exercise bike. I wonder if I will forever associate particular words with the view of my speedometer.

Anyway, one thing I am very pleased about is to be able to mention that three photographer/artists I've worked with are all exhibiting at the same time. Mark Davy-Jones, Gregory Brown and Jeff Wack will all be showing work at 'The Beauty of Women' at The Menier Gallery, London 8-19th January. I know that some images of me are being featured by Mark, though I don't know which, and will have to go along to find out if I'll be featured in any more.

Interestingly, the Guild of Erotic Artists says of the exhibition:

'THE BEAUTY OF WOMEN is an exhibition that is designed to allow the visitor to view the female form as a thing of beauty that is generally considered too private and intimate for public display. If shown at all, a woman’s body is usually presented in a negative fashion, generally within the context of pornography, intended, in almost all cases, for the exclusive pleasure of men. The goal of this exhibition is to remove these indecent inferences, contained in works of art over the centuries.'

I'm hoping to visit in between modelling for the Yerburys at the annual SWPP convention at the London Hilton on Edgeware Rd, which I'm really looking forward to. If you're planning to be there, come and say hi!

Seems fitting to finally blog some images Mark Davy-Jones took of me and Kayleigh Lush a while ago. I love these!

(The biddies in the background didn't pay us much attention.)

And this has reminded me that I need to plan a quick visit to the Isle of Wight again for March/April - will get on to that soon, though am all in a flux at the moment about when to visit Paris (4th-9th April?) and am also itching to get on with planning my trip to Scotland (early May; big proper tour, unlike my last year's piddly foray into just Edinburgh, as stunningly beautiful as that city is), amongst others. Planning planning planning.

Grapes and Ferrets

...And here are some actual modelling shots again!

These were taken by Vincent Rijs in Amsterdam. I think they have a very Dutch feel to them!

I very much hope to work with Vincent again during my trip to Amsterdam in June 2013. After that hefty travel retrospective in the last blog post, it's time to look forward. I've recently updated the travel/schedule page on this blog (see the tab at the top). I'll be in Brussels in February, Scotland in May, Vienna, Prague, Berlin (and northern Germany) and Holland in June, and South Germany (Black Forest/Bavaria/Baden-Wurttemberg) and probably Zurich in July. I hope to visit Paris sometime in March or early April.

(Interlude: this is all assuming the world won't end on the 21st. That said, anyone who's anyone surely knows that the Mayans only predicted the end of a cycle and the start of a new one, a shift in human understanding and an apocalypse only in those 'end of an era' terms; and whatever repercussions will be involved are supposed to occur in the surrounding days, months or even years. :-) From what I've read (and I bought a book on the Mayans last year so that visiting the pyramids would be more fun), they never actually claimed that the world will end on that date; they are only aligning meaning with astronomical fact, as was their way of doing things. Gotta say though, the parties in Mexico at the ancient Mayan sites around now must be brilliant.)

I will also be travelling for shoots around England as well as obviously being available locally in the south/midlands, but really this depends as always on people getting in touch with me to make the bookings that kick start arrangements. :-) At the moment I'd like to schedule in a few more mini-trips of 1-3 days in various places around England, for early-mid 2013, and possibly with a few studio days in the mix, but I won't know where to visit if you don't let me know! Email me at ellarosemuse@live.co.uk and I'll do my best to make a shoot happen!

Below is a poster for Vincent Rijs exhibition, running this month in Amsterdam.

Paint, Feet, Magalazine Cover!

Sorry for being a bit quiet - things are a bit crazy in my personal world at the moment with a massive upheaval caused by having to very reluctantly remove myself from a situation I've been in for 8-and-a-bit years (my entire adult life thus far), and I think I need to clamp my head together to keep all my thoughts from spinning off in different directions. Incredibly annoying to find that I can't harness myself into writing at the moment, having put aside time especially; seems I'm best at writing when things are peaceful, not dramatic, and otherwise I have the attention span of a self-doubting, mourning-for-something-that-seems-only-to-have-existed-in-my-head-anyway hamster. 

To 'make up' for this, I have been buying myself jewellery and being frivolous; spending more on one piece (vintage, rubies, pearls; rose gold being my weakness) than I ever have before. I really want to buy myself a ring next, but we shall see (and currently the ring I want does not exist). I actually rang my Mum from the shop (a little place in Oxford which makes me very happy) for reassurance, asking if I was mad to be spending so much on the very opposite of what I'd gone in for (I went in hoping to find a silver/white gold SIMPLE pendant), and she said it was fine... haha... and that at the very least, gold was an investment... (And I remember my old painter friend telling me gold was the way forward, not that I'll be buying any big chunks any time soon!!) so obviously my little burst of jewellery buying was highly rational and clever... Jewellery has always been very meaningful and emotionally important for me, especially when either inherited, or 'worn before'... or bought for me... or bought as a gift for myself... who am I kidding - I just love it. And I don't really shop very often. (There I go again attempting to justify my splurge!).

Anyway, this is my personal blog, so I can write what I want, but while the urge to express upset and rantings is one I can definitely identify with, I always find it a bit of a shame when people bare their souls online/on facebook etc rather than among friends in person. So, here are some updates I should have posted a while ago, from my 'to blog' folder.

First, a painting by Kristian Mumford, recently shown at the Loreto Art Exhibition, 113x78 oil on linen (courtesy of John Evans, who photographed the original image in a crumbling mansion): 

By Holly at Jewelled World, yet another book cover featuring... well, my feet again. Haha. It amuses me greatly that my little tattoo seems not to have been edited out by the relevant department at the publishing house; the absolute testament to the fact that no one ever notices it. I will have to see this in real life to be sure. Well done Holly!

Finally, my mug on the cover of Digital Camera Magazine recently, shot by a competition-winning reader up in Manchester. We had a great day; there were lots of sets and beautiful images made that I really wish I could have seen finished versions of after the shoot, but trust me that there were some absolute beauties! My hair and make up was stunning, I thought, and done by Zan, who was excellent!

I've also been told I'm featured in a book out at the moment, 'Practical Photoshop: Creative Projects'. Someone spotted it in WHSmith for me (thank you!), so I emailed the editor and he's kindly sending me a copy. I've got some lovely shots in waiting which I'll be excited to show soon, but bear with me if I do disappear for a little while. Thanks for reading!

Extreme Eiffel Tower Exploits, Etc.

Hello!

I'm writing this from my hotel in Manchester, where I'm poised for a magazine shoot tomorrow, and taking some time to catch up on lots and lots of things, including reading inspiring blog posts about creativity like these, and writing this blog post, which I'm excited to show you!

I was lucky and spoiled enough recently to be taken again to Paris by photographer Jeremy Howitt (see previous entries here and here). It really was a bit of a whirlwind, and since the idea was that we'd spend two nighttimes shooting, we were free to sightsee all day around Paris on the day in between (and although I was free to book further shoots in the area, I thought it would be nice to have the day to wander around and look at stuff instead!!).

On the first evening, post Eurostar, I met Jeremy for dinner before travelling around on the metro (to the accompanying sound of the accordian; this is one of my all time favourite things about France; it really is so unashamedly French) towards Montmartre, to revisit a spot we'd worked on before. Voilà:

(Above is Jeremy's shot of le Sacre Coeur, taken on one of many runs up the stairs to check the status of passersby; below, me in le French mac, then less so:)

The plan was basically then to walk around and try desperately to get enough privacy (in the most popular city in the world...) somewhere with an interesting background. I have a thing about cafés (though I didn't indulge in a macaroon during this trip), and thought we just had to use this place. And I'm bossy. I love the zebra crossing in the frame, too. The staff were just closing for the night, and we had to be quick not to let them steer their wheely bins in shot...

On day two, we went to la Musée d'Orsay to see the current Degas exhibition, which was brilliant! What an amazing place. I bought a really cool poster, plus a set of 6 monet coasters and some Degas/other postcards to boost my, er, coaster and art postcard collections. :-)

Unfortunately, France hates vegetarians, so what could have been an entire day spent browsing the jaw dropping, inspiring and mesmerising (if there'd been time), with just a quick stop in the cafe there, was necessarily cut short by the urgent desire to eat lunch. Ah well, I hope to go back at some point; and we did manage to see quite a lot!

Next on the agenda, after dinner (yeah, basically day time was spent eating and looking at stuff, and also napping after the late shoot the night before) we went to the Grand Palais, which is currently hosting an exhibition of Helmut Newton's photography. Lots of food for thought and inspiration! The highlight was the video, made by Helmut's wife, with behind the scenes footage and some hilarious fly-on-the-wall scenes. Best quote ever comes from Helmut arguing with her (after she notes how fortuitous it is that a model has semi-blinked in one of his images, lending a narrow-eyed, sultry, moody feel to the image): 'You're doing it again. Belittling me. I told her to do that. It is my direction that makes her mysterious and wonderful.' (Or words very similar. Love it.)

After that, aware that Paris is still full of tourists and couples strolling around its streets at 10pm, we went to the Crazy Horse, which was quite an experience!!

And finally, we did some shots in front of the iconic Eiffel Tour. Surprisingly enough, this wasn't actually planned, but I'm so glad we did it! I think these shots will currently hold my record for 'crazy things done in the name of modelling'; I am certainly not the first model to have posed there, but it's still a bizarre, exciting and pressure-filled few minutes (we didn't have longer than that really; and even then we couldn't escape the tourists, lazily-strolling locals or taxi drivers, some of whom gave me a thumbs up sign mid-drive... and the pressure was on for Jeremy who had to control focus in low (street lamp only) light). We certainly didn't set out to be seen; we did everything we could not to be, waiting for what felt like hours for those precious gaps in the stream of people, but in the end it just seemed impossible and we had to just go for it or always regret it. I can say that modelling nude in front of the Eiffel Tower (and, to a lesser-but-still-considerable extent, in front of the café the previous night) is a sort of 'out of body' experience. It's a very odd thing to do. But the structure, power and beauty of the Eiffel Tower, especially lit up so majestically (and I have to mention that at night, the tower's illumination copyright goes strictly to Pierre Bideau), made a wonderful posing partner and some images I'm proud of! And just look at the moon (copyright Moon)!