I Wish I Was

I've been thinking for some time now of making a booklet of collages and maybe a pop-up book which is moveable and three-dimensional. This is my first attempt in that direction and I am quite pleased with the results.

My Little Monsters

Let me introduce my new best friends: Frankie (from Frankenstein) and Principessa (meaning princess in Italian).



Since human relationship can be very difficult and disappointing I decided to create ideal companions for myself. They are soft, small, silent, accomodating and always agree with me.



They love the outdoors a lot that's why I took them for a picnic in Tivoli Park the other day.



Most of their time is spent in a red shoebox so they liked the change very much. They've came up with amazingly original ideas for this photo session.




Here is a piglet hidding and I made a dog as well for Frankie and Principessa but it is not very photogenic and today I gave it away to a human friend. There is an elephant coming soon, I hope, I am having a bit of a creative blockade.




So this is my idea on how to improve the quality of life, avoid disapointments and have fulfilling relationships.
Dear virtual friends, I will let you know if it works so you can try it too.

Winter Wedding

"The spirits of the dead are in constant state of yearning".
Kazuo Ohno




The third part of my show Stitches is called Winter Wedding and was influenced by Japanese dance - Butoh, Japanese ghost stories and movies, especially Akira Kurosawa's Dreams.





Years ago I studied and performed with some Japanese Butoh dancers and that experience made a lasting impresion on me. I've been thinking about making my own version of a "ghost dance" for a long time...ghost or spirits are a popular subject in Japanese theatre and literature.





In Japanese folklore there are spirits that are kept from a peaceful afterlife because of some powerful emotions and keep returning to the physical world. For example ghosts of those who died at sea or samurai -warrior ghosts or, my favourite:), the seductress ghosts, who have a post-death love affair with a living human.




These spirits haunt a particular person or place until their purpose is fulfilled and they can move on to the afterlife. They usually appear between 2 and 3 a.m., the witching hour for Japan, when the weils between the world of the dead and the world of the living are at their thinnest.






The ghosts are represented by wearing a white kimono, which is used for funeral rituals and the hair is long, black and disheveled, they lack legs and feet and their hands dangle lifelessly from the wrists.

Coral Sea

Coral Sea is the second part of my show Stitches.

I know, I know you all have been impatiently waiting for this second installment of Splendor:-) In case you are new to this blog or you've missed the first part I urge you to scroll down and have a look at Broken Beat first!!!





After the black and white world of Broken Beat we are now immersed in colour. The animation is done after my watercolours of sea, seabirds, waves, palms...
The movement is circular and fluid as opposed to the mechanical, "broken" and doll like of the first one.













I have been fascinated by mermaids since early age, I think it started with bedtime stories about Ulysses, the legendary Greek king, and his voyage that my father used to tell me when I was little. Those beautiful and sinister mermaids are what I remamber most vividly to this day. And later I read a story about these creatures and in a children's book; in this weird version the mermaid would eat the sailor's ears after she had seduced them. The illustration of sailors on the island without ears was really, really spooky. And of course I adore H.C. Andersen's version, in which the mermaid endures terrible suffering to become human because she had fallen in love with the prince. Oh, the drama...

Broken Beat

Broken Beat is the title of the first act of my new show Stiches. After much deliberating I have decided to make three posts about the show because... it's made of three parts ( must be a genius) and could not possibly decide which were the best photoghraps and how to fit only five of them into a post.



So welcome into the black and white world of Broken Beat ...the cold, lonely and dusty attic where a doll gradually comes to life, becomes animated and tries to reach out to the word but is finally... well, I will not tell you everything in case you'll be so lucky to see the show:-)







I have designed the costumes, Zoran helped to make them, plus he contributed the soundtrack and a lot of moral support... I am especially proud of this first costume, I think it turned out even better than I have hoped, and it works well with the animation that is projected behind me and sometimes on me.

Besides the corset would be perfectly wearable for a night out in Camden Town:-)

Tea Dance

Tired of stressful and not-so-glamorous everyday life?
Put on your best clothes and join Miss Rosette for an elegant Tea Dancing event; seductive tango music, beautiful people and plenty of drinks.
Don't be late!

... some ideas for my future project... I am super pleased with the watercolour above
and here comes the Invitation card for anyone who cares to join me:




Drink, and dance and laugh and lie,
Love the reeling midnight through,
For tomorrow we shall die!
(But, alas, we never do.)
~Dorothy Parker



Let's finish for today with this really cute postcard from the 1920's



So long!

A Butterfly Crossing The Sea

After the very successful or shall we say triumphant opening of her show, Miss R. flew to Japan, as you can see in the picture above, where she is immersing herself in Oriental mystery.

Mesmerizing pictures from the show will be posted soon or when I stop being indecisive
and finally choose which are the best from the thousands that Zoran took.

Since we are in Japanese mood let us remember a beautiful buto dancer Kazuo Ohno who died last year aged 103. He danced well into his nineties and created his most remarkable performances in his sixties and seventies. If you are a fan of that angelic voice that belongs to Anthony Hegarty of the Antony and the Johnsons, you have seen Kazuo on the cover of the CD The Crying Light.

A butterfly crossing the sea.
Or, simply picture the sea and a butterfly.
What's to stop you from flying through the sea?
How would you fly?
You're already threading your way through the waves.

Happy Birthday Tom!

I made this watercolour a couple of weeks ago for my friend Thomas Hardy, whose birthday is tomorrow and sent it to him. I hope that the gift has arrived in time.
I miss you, dear gentleman farmer, that's all I wanted to say.w

! New Post !

Dear friends!
Finally a new post. Our computer broke down a few weeks ago, little bastard was only four years old and very expensive, apparently that happens all the time in the computer world at least thats what Zoran, the computer genius, told me. Now we have a new one and we are broke... but we have all this splendid art... in our life. Please admire the poster and the email invitation that Zoran designed for the opening of the show next week. Lets see how this "experiment" turns out.

In the meantime I created... more new splendid... watercolours which I will post soon...:-)

There Will Be Magic Tonight! New Performance Dates

You are kindly invited to dream a little dream with me.

Miss Rosette is proud to announce the performance dates for the show Stitches in Ljubljana - 16th and 17th of June and soon in your town!
Hope you can make it.

Vljudno vabljeni na predstavo Netopir in Nevesta
Premiera: 16. junij ob 20h
Ponovitev: 17. junij ob 20h
Beethovnova 5, dvorana Skladovnica, JSKD

Godibodi Festival

Here are some pictures from a concert where I was actually on the stage !!! with a band making a unique CD box for the music that was recorded that night and later sold on an auction. The name of the singer is Bilbi, she is very sweet and lovely and just had a hit song and I decided to make a chocolate box with a bed of pink flowers for her CD.

Flying Shoes

This post is dedicated to my first published illustration. Zoran writes a monthly column about mans fashion in Slovenian fashion magazine Modna. In this months issue on shoes you can admire my illustration of a correspondent type brogue.Thats a classic shoe worn especially in spring-summer and goes well with white-cream trousers and navy blazer.
Every chap should own one, says Zoran.

Just A Boat

This blog was getting way too romantic, so this is just a boat, a steamer,
it will appear in the second part of the show, cant tell you more for now, we dont want to spoil the mystery...

OR
Miss Rosette hasn't heard from Senor Lopez for quite a while...tears and sighs and despair... she pulls herself together... buys a ticket for a cruise... she is on the boat right now... on a trip to visit the End of the World.... Patagonia, I believe...

OR
On a more technical note, these are watercolours done separately by me (the boat, the steam and the waves) and composed in Photoshop by Zoran.

Rosette Sends You Roses

...And the crimson haunts you everywhere

The Quite House
Charlotte Mew


I had discovered this almost obscure "poetess" while living in London but it was only after we left that I found out that her last home was just across the street from our flat on Delancy St. in Camden Town...a lot of poets lived around there, maybe not a lot but at least two:Dylan Thomas and Christina Rosetti, for example.
Mews poems are full of dramatic monologues that grab our attention -"I want your life before mine bleeds away", they are never neutral,(me no like neutral) and live to be heard. The people in her poems are locked in houses, rooms...and trapped within the prison of their identities too.( a bit like the three characters in my upcoming performance...) So their minds and thoughts wander but the freedom never quite arrives.
My favourite poems are Rooms, A quoi bon dire and The Quite House and well, some others too although she didn't leave that many.

Charlotte wrote in a letter: "mais il fait ecouter le coeur when there is nothing else to listen to.
I hope you agree ... and Good Night mes amis ... I got carried away with this text, feels like War and Peace... stop.

Ljubljana My Love

Ljubljana should be the most romantic capitol of Europe.
Its name contains the word love and there is a pink Franciscan church in the main square - St. Francis was definitely a romantic chap but I am not so sure about his contemporary followers who wear jeans under their brown robes, ghastly!
Opposite the pretty pink church there is a green statue of our greatest poet gazing forever at his unrequited love Juliet who lived in one of this nice houses in the square. Besides Ljubljana has one river, one castle, one dragon...bridge...oh, do come to visit there is so much more I would like to tell you.

Wonderful Life

Never give up,
it's such a wonderful life.

The orange is from Seville, the hometown of our intrepid senor Lopez who is still away on his expedicion exploring the wild deep sea creatures at the end of the world,
the title, on the other hand, was inspired by a perfect pop song.

Fancy a Pint?

Miss Rosette would like to express her gratitude for all the compliments she received for the trailer.
"Merci, mes amis, merci beaucoup!"
To celebrate the occasion you are invited for a real drink this time - there were some complaints on the coffee post...so let's enjoy some of that splendid liquid that the English call ale and FLLLLYYYY TOGETHER. Cheers!!!!!

Trailer Finally Released

Dear Friends!

Miss Rosette is proud to present you a glimpse of her show Stitches
(Netopir in Nevesta)

Enjoy!


Miss Rosette Brune from senor Lopez on Vimeo.

Animation and sound done by Zoran Arizanovic
Artwork by Mojca Zorz

My Heart Belongs to ...

...Senor Lopez!



Miss Rosette misses her sweetheart who is far, far away on a dangerous "Expedicion" called Stella Marina. As you can see he is not just incredibly brave, notice the terrible beasts surrounding him, but handsome and stylish as well. You might remember him, hanging on a wall, in the boudoir painting.




...???Will you ever return, mon cher???...

Would You Like Some Coffee?

"Then,"said Mr. Bankes, "there is that liquid the English call coffee."

To the Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf




Miss R. decided to take a short respite before embarking on a new adventure.
She is an avid coffee drinker and would like to invite you for a cup if you happen to be nearby. Admire her new coffee cups and the splendid caffettiera.








P.S. I hope no one of my dear guests speak Italian as I just realised that I had misspelled caffettiera in the drawing. Having been a teacher of Italian language in my previous life I find it hard to pardon myself for such an error...:-)
Buona notte amici miei!