Rosie Cheeks

I spend my leisure time hand sewing my scraps of silk into roses. If I sit down to watch a movie or TV, which is rare, I'll pick up something to do. I can't stand to be idle so roses it is. Consequently, I have a whole basket full of pretty silk flowers. What to do? What to do? (insert light bulb here) Why not dress up one of my plainer designs? Thus Rosie Cheekies were born. Because I use tiny scraps of left over projects, no two cheekies will be the same. (Well not always). There will be three of these Lavender Rose Cheekies available. I had a bit more of that color, but it's still an exclusive design.

 

These Blue Rose Cheekies are a one of a kind creation.

 

 

As are these Red Rose Cheekies.

 

 

 I'll continue to keep my hands busy in my spare time so I'll probably offer these in other colors at another time. If you like them they can be found here... 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/raycielaraye

Along with my other creations.

 

Raycie Cheekies

I've been working hard this month. Being an independent fashion designer is no walk in the park, you really have to love what you do. I actually really love lingerie and have wanted to design it for years. After a brief stint as a Burlesque dancer and Pin up girl, I was finally inspired to get to it. So here's my first line. I call them Cheekies. They're a cute little hot pant with just a bit of cute little cheek hanging out the back. There are so many pretty parts to the female body. Although I believe in being modest most of the time, I think there is a time and place for revealing those pretty bits. My goal is to make my line of lingerie Fun and Classy, no skank involved, but as with everything else it's all about perspective. So as they do in the Burly-Q....here's the Reveal! I hope you like them, I certainly do!

 

My Sequin Cheekies

I've long had a bolt of Chinese silk Brocade with dragons and phoenix's on it. I always wondered what I would make of it. Cheekies seemed the right thing to do. I think these are my favorite!

Chinese Red Cheekies

 

I wanted to offer some softer options as well, so I created a line of frosty pastel colored Cheekies. You can go to my Etsy shop to see the range of colors. https://www.etsy.com/shop/raycielaraye

 

  

Dupioni Silk Cheekies

 

 

Saatchionline.com

My Paintings are for sale at this link

http://www.saatchionline.com/raycielaraye

Etsy is UP!

If you like these, they can be found right here...... https://www.etsy.com/shop/RaycieLaRaye

Illustrated

When I was a child some of my favorite books were the classic fairy tales, but it wasn't because the stories were all that interesting. No matter how the story is told, Cinderella always fits into the slipper. ( As an adult though, I do love a good retelling. For those who have read Confessions of an Ugly Step Sister and Cinder Edna, you'll know what I mean.) The things that I loved about the books were the pictures. It was always so fascinating to see how many incarnations Cinderella could take on. Was her hair black this time? What was she wearing to the ball? What did the Palace look like? I would open the books and just get lost in the images. I had no need to read the words. The illustrations were so detailed I could just feel the story. My childhood was filled with these depictions. I would get lost in the art and not find my way out for hours. Then I'd go back and do it again. 


The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault 1922

It turns out that the Illustrators I loved so much all had one thing in common, they were part of the art nouveau movement that started in the 1890's and lasted through the 1920's. This is called the Golden Age of Illustration. Some of the pictures are quite sexually charged with some adult content, so I also got a sensual education as well. That's what art nouveau is , seeing beauty in the rounded lines and curves that echo nature, and the human body is apart of that. 


1923 edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales
illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren.

As I grew up, I still read, but I thought I was much to mature for the picture books. So my imagination took over, but to be honest, the style in my head was still the same.  My sense of aesthetic was highly influenced by these artists. They laid the ground work for my own artistic expression. The highly detailed pictures have now become my own artwork. Whether it be painting or fashion, it can't just be plain, there has to be a lot of embellishment and texture.

I'll share some of my favorites here, but since I couldn't put all of the pictures I love on this little post, you might want to do some of your own research. These talented artists really are worth getting to know.

  My all time number one favorite is Kay Nielsen. He was a Danish Illustrator that collaborated with Disney from time to time. There is so much going on in these drawings, his work is just so Beautiful!


The Fire Bird



Crinoline and Powder



12 Dancing Princesses

Warwick Goble
An English Illustrator that specialized in Japanese and Asian themes and then he'd put his own romantic, idealized, western spin on them.


The Iron Stove

The Six Swans

Odalisque (google this)

Harry Clarke

He did Illustrations for multiple fairy tales, but I like what he did for Edgar Allen Poe's stories the best. They're a bit darker, the black and white patterns helped me sink into madness, and I LOVE THEM! He was also a stained glass artist in London and his glass is just as detailed and gorgeous as these pictures.

 

Edgar Allen Poe’s “Tales of Mystery and Imagination”

I can't identify this one, but there's been a head chopping,
 so It might be for Poe's work as well.

Edgar Allen Poe’s “Tales of Mystery and Imagination”

Edmund Dulac

He was a French man studying law at the University of Toulouse , but he got bored, so he became an artist instead. Thank goodness for that. He Illustrated multiple story books and had quite a successful career as an artist.

 

Scheherazade

Sleeping Beauty

Tales from the Arabian Nights

Last but not least is Arthur Rackham

He was thought of as one of the leading artists of the Golden Age. His images were done in watercolor and pen and India ink. They have a kind of photographic feel to them. He was successful in his lifetime, and his art is also a much sought after collectors items.

The ring of the Nibelung

Pandora

 

Undine Lost

 

I still love illustrations for the same reasons as I always did and as an adult I still get lost in them. There are so many other artists who's works I could share, but posts can only be so long. Some honorable mentions are John Bauer, Emma Florence Harrison, H. J. Ford, Gustaf Tenggren, Dorothy Lathrop, and Virginia Frances Sterrett. I can see where they have influenced more contemporary illustrators who have in turn influenced me as well.

 (Love)

 

This Year

It began as a vision in the foggy mists of January. As I stood in the backyard chilled to the bone and praying that we'd have an early thaw, I saw the garden spot alive with flowers and butterflies and flowing with milk and honey. Well, full of food anyway. I needed something to keep me sane during the winter, so I ordered some gardening books for myself. I'll have to admit I was pretty zealous about it. The second the sun came out (mid February), I was outside digging and foraging for usable materials. I used the wheels my brother and I salvaged from our scrapping adventures, some bricks I found up at the dump spot on the hill, and some sandstone from a school that my brothers and father demo-ed years ago. My goal was not to spend a cent on the structural stuff, and I was able to realize it. 

So without further ado, here is the finished lot.

 

I put a boarder of railroad ties on the north and south sides.

I took another 5 feet past the trees into the yard and put in bricks as a barrier. 

As you can see I've planted a few things already. The raspberries and strawberries are located on the north side of the garden near the compost bin. I put down fescue grass as a mulch to help keep the weeds down. How well that works is yet to be seen.

 

I built up a little wall to make a permanent flower bed and put down old carpet
 as a pathway (I know it's not so green, but I'm using what I have here).

I've put a bed of Asparagus in on the south side with a rhubarb plant in the far corner. We had a bunch of rusted out water troughs and old tires that I thought would make great raised beds, so they were thrown in the mix as well.

I used the vintage farm wheels as decorative boarders around
 the perimeter of the house. This is on the south side where the
 tomatoes were last year.

I thought blueberries would do well in this spot so I put them in when the other berries went in. I also put a couple bushes on the east side of the house, so hopefully we will have plenty of them to keep us happy. It wasn't just the back of the house that I overhauled, the front needed work too.
Here is the result.  



I ripped out the wild rose bushes and created an actual bed.

I've planted perennials and artichoke as ornamental plants, along with watermelon as a cover, in the above spot. Everything is basically experimental at this point. In the below spot I've just fescued the dickens out of it in an attempt to control the weeds. I've planted herbs in the pots and put some cactus out as well.

 

We used to have a Dairy, so of course I would use these left overs.

There is a lot I still need to do, but I've decided to wait on it until next year. This has been quite the project already and my visions are always evolutionary. Most likely I will change a few things as time goes by, but in the mean time I'll just enjoy the work in progress.


Herb tower + concrete swan = hodge podge design. I don't know
if I like it yet, but I'll see what it looks like with flowers.

That'll do pig

I bought this pretty little pig (it's what they're called in the industry) in Korea. It was the next to biggest size I could find. The biggest one was way too big and as we know it's much easier to put weight on then to take it off. So I bought this pig with the intention of helping her gain some girth so she could be useful to me.

Look at her so slim and cute.

She even has a Korean name.

 

I brought her home and fed her some good sandwiches and fattened her up. No wait, that was me. I just added padding to her so now she is rounded and full and very healthy looking.

 

I had to add the most at the waist.

Fitting around the arm hole was a challenge,
 but darts are great for things like that.

Since we can both wear the same size , draping has become much easier because I can tell exactly what I'm going to look like in a design. I don't have to waste time and effort on something that in the end won't turn out. This was well worth the effort for me.

 

When she needs to do a skinny gig, I just unzip the fleshy parts and hang her fuller self in the closet. It's working perfectly.

 

 

BTW it's also been very fun to see what I actually look like. I am always so hard on myself, but these measurements have been mine for the last ten years and I think they're just fine.