I am one of Gabriel Mark’s models… class begins tomorrow. May 11th. 9 am! Tell your friends…

4 Nudes 8 Weeks

Working for two weeks with each of our 4 models,  compose paintings through quick thumbnails, and dive into painting.  Distill the models movements into the principle forms that make up the figure.  Emphases will be on establishing a strong value range early in the painting.  4 paintings, 4 models, 8 weeks.  Bring your game face.

Dates: May 11th – July 6th (no class 5/25)
Fridays from 9:00am – Noon
Cost: $290 + $50 Model Fee
Location: Talent Studios – Talent, OR

For supply list & to sign up email:
artist@artofgabriel.com

Yea.

I’m back to art modeling. Tell your friends! It was totally worth the wait & should be plenty of fun…

I have transformed into a thin, strong, confidant pole dancing blonde.

Who would a guessed that was coming? LOL.

Can’t wait to f*ng kill it in someone’s studio soon.

I wonder who will be first?

There is a  list of artists I’m dying to get naked for….

Are you on it? I hope to see you all  soon -on paper or in paint or pen. Or, perhaps with a little film emulsion and red gel lights???

Just remember, if you want me really loosened up, ALWAYS play me Puscifer…

xoxo

Healing.

Getting stronger. Road trip to Portland. Amazing pole dancing competition. A female sword  swallower. A glorious club dancer. A weekend without grief, without migraines.  Creativity, laughter and celebration shared. Began knife throwing-brand new blades…

Shooting photos & videos for friends. Wrapping up old photo projects.  Room for new ones-diving in! Perhaps even close to art modeling once again. Keeping mood elevated with healthy diet, pole dancing…

Still injured as f*ck. Yearning for freedom from chronic pain. Not confined to a couch, but still reeling from past 2 years…so grateful for this form of dance- challenging my physical limits and moving me through, with, around my bodies capacity…allowing me to express joy. Pole strengthens. literally gives me something to hang on and look forward too.

Some people get religion.

I got chrome.

Canvas by Imogen Heap

“Slow heart dark wait down love black canvas
Revolve within, you understand
Fragile earth where cracks in the temperature
Keep it cool to give, you understand
Cause I just can’t find the strength to pull you up and keep you taut
No I just can’t find the strength to hold you up and keep you taut
Hijacked lost track light fades another day left
Long shadows lure you in
The more you look the less you see
close your eyes and start to breathe
suit yourself, this wasn’t easy”

Seaweed, Lisa Byrne 2009

Pisces and Independence:

Pisces needs a dominant partner of role model in their life.  When they are independent and inspired by life’s events, their creativity comes shining through but they need other people to keep them grounded and on the right track.

Pisces and Friendship:

Pisces will go out of their way to help a friend. They are extremely sensitive and loyal. They will take a friend’s problem and make it their own and suffer with them.

Pisces and Business:

Pisces are good at writing, acting, poetry, or being musicians. Pisces are excellent at anything that tugs at the heart strings and mystical/spiritual. They are extremely creative and can use their skills of creativity and their understanding of people to inspire others.

Pisces and Temperament:

The Pisces personality is hard to pin down, it is very mysterious and elusive. Pisces are molded by their surroundings, they incorporate their experiences and surroundings into themselves. They have extreme compassion and they feel the pain of others. If something is wrong in the world that affects them, it affects them deeply, they take it to heart and feel extreme feelings regarding the matter

Pisces Deep Inside:

Pisces have an intuitive and psychic ability more then any other zodiac signs. They trust their gut feelings and if they do not, they quickly learn to because they realize that their hunches are usually correct. Pisces  do not like rejection and they try to treat others the way they want to be treated.

Pisces in a Nutshell:

Pisces is the sign of mysticism, mystery and the spiritual unknown. Pisces live in two worlds, the real world and the spiritual or mystical world where they interpret what they see into what they want. They do this to avoid all the realities of pain and suffering in the world. They have extremes of emotions and feel both good and bad intensively. Pisces have formidable intuitive ability.  Pisces are very good at understanding people for they have the ability to delve into the psyche and see behind a person’s motivations.

What it’s Like to Date a Pisces Woman:

Pisces women are  captivating and fascinating, charming, soft and feminine. The ultimate enchantress. She can see right through a lover and is not easy to fool, so better be straight with her and not lead her on, because she will simply disappear. She needs to nurture and will give orders but only for another’s good. What she needs in return is  to be protected and cherished,  needed and loved.  Her partner will become of better half. You have to be gentle with her. Don’t poke fun or tease and definitely do not reject her harshly because she can’t stand rejection. She is extremely romantic and will lose herself in the relationship. The Pisces woman is the ultra feminine nurturer.

Sex With Pisces:

Sex with Pisces is an emotional and physical experience, and if you allow it, it will be a spiritual experience as well. Pisces like to seduce. They love erotic games for they are able to get completely involved and lose themselves in the erotic play. Pisces likes risque encounters and offbeat activities. A very fun partner for those who like different encounters and physical sex.

http://zodiac-signs-astrology.com/zodiac-signs/pisces.htm

Cold blooming Jasmine flower, by Lisa Byrne April 2012

The scent of jasmine.

As intoxicating as a lovers embrace. As that  first glance, as the first kiss.  I spend Easter Sunday afternoon outside, bathed in soft grey light, enveloped in this scent. It drifts like a dream from the vine blooming at the front of my house. I photograph tulip buds  in my yard. Their shapes are surprisingly sensual. The  whole experience leaves me turned on beyond belief.

Ahh spring…

From the Tulip series by Lisa Byrne 2012

more images from this series at:

http://petalush.tumblr.com/

Sexy Lap Dance workshop at Pole Dance Fitness studio in Medford Oregon last month!

Since taking up (pole) dancing:

I’m constantly in search of  beats that will warm me up, inspire me, and that I can effectively shake my booty too. For a long time I abhorred commercial radio and was really out of touch with the latest hip hop music. I think Google has definitely improved my searching capability, and online streaming has increased my listening experience 100 fold. I find many new groovy/driving dance mixes exceptionally satisfying. Living in silence for almost 2 years (because of migraine headache pain)  probably has something to do with this.

Dance music just makes me feel alive.

Just for fun, here are song titles I just added to my play list this week.My taste is all over the place. I will  listen to almost anything now (bring on the  country, electronica, hip hop & heavy metal) -because everything danceable is awesome!

“Use Me” Bill Whithers original recorded version, and Fiona Apple live version

“Feeling Good” Nina Simone version & MUSE cover

“Pressure” Nadia Ali / Alex Jenji

“Nuthin But a G Thang” Snoop dog & Dr Dre

“Cold” Crossfade

“My Kind of Party”  Jason Aldean

“When I’m Gone” 3 Days Grace

“Burn” Pap Roach

“No Church in the Wild” Jay Z & Kayne West

“You Spin me Right Round Baby” Dead or Alive

“Born to Die” Lana Del Ray

“Tonight Im Loving (Fucking) you”  Enrique Iglacias

“Take Over Control” Afro Jack featuring Eva Simons

“Turn All the Lights On” T-Pain

“Turn Me On” Nicki Minaj

“I Wish” Stevie Wonder

What are you listening to these days? What song is my playlist missing?

I'm Gone-self portrait #79/365

Missing my friend.

Hard to grasp how much someone I loved might have been struggling (with addiction or alcoholism). He didn’t talk to me about it. We shared poetry, photography, painting, movies, books, music & laughter with each other. He was literally everywhere in my life. I’m certain it will never be quite the same without him in it. Roy was a regular reader of this blog.

I try to imagine he still is.

There’s another world inside of me
That you may never see
There are secrets in this life
That I can’t hide
Somewhere in this darkness
There’s a light that I can’t find
Maybe it’s too far away…
Or maybe I’m just blind…

3 DOORS DOWN “When I’m Gone”

My girl Pantera Blacksmith is a guest judge! Dear god sexy ladies…. if anyone out there wants to compete in this-now is your chance. (and pretty please bring me along as your *assistant/photographer/costume designer*)

Thank you in advance.

http://www.fabulousparadise.com/stripsearch2012/

Living-Butoh-Statue from Don McLeods Character Photo Galleryhttp://www.zenbutoh.com/charactergallery/pages/Living-Butoh-Statue.htm

I  discovered Butoh today.

This form of dance-with roots in mid century Japan- I am unable to describe easily with words. All I can say is it instantly resonated with me to my very core so deeply (conceptual imagery, art modeling, movement, beauty, pain, physical strength & expression)  that  I feel compelled to learn more. It is unlike anything I have seen, except in my own imagination and dreams, or perhaps a Kirasowa’s “Sunshine Through the Rain”

kazuo_ohno1 from Butoh Embrace http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=butoh%2c+images&view=detail&id=49717C70A1C6D6F7575065E61379F52C32C7BE2A&first=0

Do you know when something has changed your life the first few moments it touches you? I was profoundly aware of an internal shifting today-one I’ve not not felt  since 2009-when I met an artist online who shifted my entire self-perception (or since 1995 when I first developed a photograph in a darkroom) Viewing Butoh was like watching someone take  my own insides  & put them up on a stage. Never before has what I was feeling internally & longing to express with movement & imagery-so acutely depicted.

For an artist, these things are like earthquakes that forever alter our landscapes

* World famous butoh performer Hiroko Tamano considers modeling for artists to be butoh, in which she poses in “impossible” positions held for hours, which she calls “really slow Butoh” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butoh

Lettuce 2005 Lisa Byrne

Who doesn’t love spooning?

This week I’m ordering custom fabric swatches from Spoonflower.   My photo designs are being transferred onto fabric in order to create custom pillow covers for an eco- friendly hair salon in Ashland Oregon. This coincides with the art exhibit I currently have at this location.

*If you are not familiar with the amazing powers of Spoonflower custom fabric printing, please go check them out-the possibilities are rather mind blowing.

Orange Pop ( Poppy flower) 2005 Lisa Byrne

*Although this is an idea I came up with several years ago, it has taken me some time to realize it.  My real goal is to become a go-getter, a maverick, and to jump on ideas and make things happen. I have always admired people who do this. My list of unfinished projects is daunting. Sitting on things for a long while & missing opportunities (past  habit)  has begun to depress me. Chronic illness has seriously hijacked my creative 

Joie de vivre

My new goal:

Grab the bull by the horns & not let pain or fatigue symptoms control my career or plans of success  any longer.

-The sudden loss of my best friend at age 53 last month shocked me into realizing that the clock is really ticking. If I don’t make things happen (& soon) nobody will.  I literally spent my 20′s- 30′s ill & waiting to feel better-and grieving the loss of a diving/traveling career. Then, these past two years-beginning with the death of my aunt, followed by 18 months alone at home in the dark, on a couch, highly medicated, in pain, with migraines & surgery…. just when I start to feel better, my best friend drops dead of a heart attack-

Oh, Jesus take the wheel & give me a lobotomy…

So now my boyfriend is unemployed from a 9 year job.  My car is broken again.

All I can do is laugh and cry. Never have I felt so free to live fully, dream again &  say with conviction ‘it’s going to be OK-probably better than ever before-because as long as I am off that fucking couch again-life is good.

Kniphofia flower, 2010 Lisa Byrne

I am fixing all the broken electronics. I am finishing all the unfinished projects.  I have cleaned out my closets  (please see my etsy store ) I am grieving my losses but moving forward with ideas that have been hibernating & threaten to burst loose. I have written letters to people I lost touch with. I am hanging art that has sat in boxes. I am planning big. So fucking big it might scare people. Especially myself.

I am buying a dance pole very soon. 

Thank you all you inspiring people.

And thank you Roy-you are a warrior my friend-and you taught me to be one.

For this I am so fucking grateful!