Ever dream of making an Art Gown that burst forth from the drab of winter?
Then, it blooms into the brilliance of spring!
Surely that Art Gown would be a flower garden.
Which is why I dedicate Spring Rhapsody to Amy Rose. Amy takes superlative photos of flowers, and she grows the most beautiful roses. She takes fabulous, magic photos all year long. Yet, her flowers, especially roses are stand out.
It all began when a friend sent me about 40 pounds of old fabrics. There was a damask pillow case, that worked with a shiny coppery brown fabric. It seemed a bit earthy coloured for a gown. I thought: earth, garden, Amy’s flowers.
The shiny coppery fabric is odd: rubbery, perhaps used for upholstery, annoying to work with and exceptionally lustrous.
The box also included many scraps of colourful acetate linings, and scriffles of a delicate net embroidered with gold and pearls.
The colourful acetates picked nicely into the subtleties of the Damask. Shapes were cut out of the net scraps, overlaid onto the acetates and stitched on.
Gold buttons, from another friend’s buckets of buttons, were used as centres to gather the flowers around. Then began the biggest mess ever made, in the making of an Art Gown.
“Dahlings! Welcome to An Evening with Picasso-esque“.
“Rene Rosso here, and I’m thrilled to announce that this Art Gowns show is being broadcast across the globe. So, without further ado, let me hand the mike over to our esteemed Art Director, Rebecca Budd.”
“Welcome, welcome! Tonight, we are on fascinating journey through the esque-art of Picasso. So, let’s not waste anytime, and bring on the Art Gowns Models!”
“First out on the catwalk is Gigi. Gigi and her gown sure know how to make a point!”
“Next out is AGM Shey. Shey showers us with a fun kooky rendition of romance.”
“Marina is a show stopper in this cubist creation.”
“Our darling Dale takes on a dozen dimensions in this daring design.”
“Holly is a dream in this flowing full length frock with matching hair.”
Tired of her Picasso-esque gown, Ms. Rosso did an unexpected costume change into a Van Gogh-esque gown, inspired by “Starry Night”.
She also changed the song she would sing. The orchestra scrambled to pull out the sheet music. After all, this was no ordinary Torch Song.
All of the AGMs were in the wings listening to Rene’s beautiful rendition of Nicole Scherzinger’s rendition of Don’t Cry For Me Argentina. Then suddenly, as the last note floated away, AGM Shey started turning greenish.
The AGMs and Rebecca watched in horror as the transformation continued, until
Shey had become a Goth Gown Model of her former self. The Sheygoth slowly faded away into black.
At that exact moment, every leaf on Shey’s Cottonwood, at Tim’s Magic Tree Sanctuary fell off. In the next second, all the other Magic Trees shed their leaves in solidarity.
One-Eye screamed, “Someone save Shey! We’re booked in Manchester in 3 days”!
Prior to the defoliation of Tim’s Magic Trees, the trees whipped up a storm and a rainbow, that went all the way to Manchester, UK.
‘Oron’s head on a stick was placed on the rainbow, whereupon he slid all the way to Manchester. He landed on the doorstep of an umbrella factory, where he was cobbled back together.
As the proud owner of Charlotte & George’s new album, “Songs From Our Balcony” I must say I just can’t listen to it enough! In the meantime, here is the link to buy the new album, and other of her recordings. https://music.apple.com/us/artist/charlotte-hoather/853884334
Dear Holly has honoured me by posting the English part of an interview for Escribe La Moda magazine. Gemma Mondéjar asks me about the Costume Designs I did for The Cheetah Girls.
Dahling Holly, Thank You! Adore You! xx 💖
Publicado por Gemma Mondéjar : SECRETOS DE VESTUARIO: DETRÁS DE ‘THE CHEETAH GIRLS’
In January I discovered that our amazing Fashionista Resa McConaghy was soon to be interviewed by Gemma Mondéjar with the fabulous “Escribe La Moda”. To my delight the interview has taken place and can be read it in its entirety below. I apologize for not including the Spanish version of the interview but I was pressed for space. Read it all you Resa McConaghy fans and enjoy! Congratulations dear Resa, you are fantastic.
Cause we are sisters, we stand together…It’s hard to read it without singing it, isn’t it? This is not the first time we talk about Disney productions (nor will it be the last), but the occasion deserves it. Aesthetically, Disney Channel movies are very well crafted, although we have to admit that there is one that stands out from all the others:
Holly, as Rene Rosso; drawn to 3 hours of Janis Joplin.
Good evening! Welcome to ABouquet of Holly. I’m AGM Marina, your host for this Art Gowns Special.
It all began when Resa wanted to say Thank you to Holly for posting a Cheetah Girls video. Click on the pic of my new gown (above) and visit the post!
Resa (One-Eye) is ever thankful to Holly – House of Heart for all the inspiration over the years, and quite frankly it’s about time that a gala event was held in her honour.
Yes, Resa wrote that poem, for Holly. Not quite the same as a Holly poem, but still delivers a heartfelt message.
When I was asked to host, I immediately thought of two gifts, two paintings for Holly.
“One for the ocean during sunset or dawn [Holly time 🥰]
Atom Sea No18 Watercolour”
We will get into my second gift shortly, but first I’d like to share some of the gowns of Rene Rosso. Resa loves to draw this talented, sexy and gown wearing Diva of a Torch Singer.
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Ahh, such beauty, however let me back up to the beginning of all this gluttony of drawing. One day Holly & Resa were cutting up in the comments on GLAM, Resa’s street art blog. They came up with some idea that there should be Go-Go dancers to dance in front of street art found in the alleys.
Boogapony Holly was born.
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Then there was a Free Comic Book Day on Resa’s street. Within an hour of attending the event, she found Marvel super hero art on a wall. A post was made out of that. Again in comments, Holly and Resa came up with Princess Blue Holly.
You know some heroes were raised by wolves, or born of a lab accident. Our Blue Holly was abandoned in a patch of holly, and raised by the plant. I jest not here! Blue Princess Holly is a real plant.
A beautiful member of the popular Blue Holly series, Blue Princess (Ilex x meservae) is a female plant that produces tiny flowers and knockout red berries.
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After Princess Blue Holly, came the Art Gowns Models, which led into adventures where Princess Blue Holly could be her super hero self. Here is Art gowns Model Holly in her Gown Of Wildflowers.
Soon after, Rene Rosso hired Rebecca Budd to Art Direct all of her shows with the Art Gowns Models. Insider tip:a new character will appear in the next adventure of PBH & the Art Gowns Models!
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It’s been a whirlwind of drawing, and it all began simply as some fun between Holly and Resa.
Holly, Resa has asked me to make sure this song is dedicated to you!
I’m Your host Rene Rosso. Today I’m here to celebrate, with you, Marina Kanavaki: her special personal art, her love of all arts & music and passionate caring for all animals on earth.
It all began with Marina’s love of animals. In 2015 an Art Gown “Cecilia Lionheart” (above) was dedicated to Marina. The post was in honour of “Cecil the Lion” who had been killed by a ruthless trophy hunter.
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Later in 2019, AGM Marina was drawn wearing “Cecilia Lionheart”. Cecilia was made of repurposed men’s ties from the 1970’s.
I just love costume changes! So now let’s all change to Marina’s art. Art Gowns is the proud owner of 2 of Marina’s paintings. On the left is “Atom Sea #9” . On the right is “Atom Flowers #15”.
Combining both paintings, Art Gowns has created a gown titled “Hera #1” Not only is Hera a Goddess (like Marina) but it is the name of her most beloved puppy dog.
One way Marina expresses her thoughts is through photography. I’m especially intrigued by a series of photos she titled “Earth Nerve Network”.
The above Art Gown is inspired by this series. Click on the pic & go to Marina’s photography page & find 9 Nerve Networks there!
I’ve taken us all down Marina Memory Lane here, so let me finish up with this beautiful song “Remember” by Lauren Daigle. I adore her version below.
Princess Blue Holly was at a stalemate battling with Etamilc. She knew Hyperion could lay a final blow, if he arrived in time!
My unease for days has troubled me, when in my study the eyes of my Black Dragon statue begin to glow. From his mouth came the pleas for help from Princess Blue Holly.
Enraged that she may be in immortal danger, I transform to the Ancient Black Dragon of the North and follow the current trails of Blue Holly’s urgent plea back to the scene where Etamilc has enslaved the Art Gown Models and My Lady.
Etamilc has chosen my element of water to battle me. Pity there is no chance of success. I dive to the depths and exhale a mighty flame that roils the water in a tornadic blast. The water turns to steam. My Lady, and the Art Gowns Models begin to rise from their hapless imprisonment. I remain to ensure there is no repeat of Etamilc’s pitiful shenanigans.
As Hyperion converted the massive amount of water into steam, they became humungous clouds. Princess Blue Holly’s mermaid outfit became too, heavy. She morphed into a new outfit she had designed especially for riding clouds.
With help from Resa & Dale’s trees; she gently guided Etamilc, now a phenomenal pink clouds formation to Tim’s magic tree sanctuary.
After being placed between Resa’s Cottonwood and Dale’s Peach tree, the clouds contracted, leaving Etamilc as a soft fluffy cloud. She was renamed Lil’ Eta, and would live in harmony with the magic trees.
With utmost urgency, PBH looked into her Tangle-Heart. Using it as a beacon, she called the Master Mystic Owl to it.
As Princess Blue Holly transformed into Rene Rosso’s spirit form, all Mystic Owls were sent out via the Tangle-Heart. Their mission: fly the Art Gowns Models back to Chicago.
As Rene Rosso flew on her owl back to Chicago, she realized the Art Gowns Models’ gowns would be too, heavy for the Mystic Owls. Further, now that the AGMs’ feet were unplanted, Dale’s Peach tree was no longer confused.
Working in tandem with Resa’s Cottonwood, the 2 magic trees managed to transform all of the AGMs into spirit forms, wearing all new spirit gowns.
The Art Gowns Models were oblivious to their reconstitutions. All they heard was music. Dale heard “live, solo, electric guitar stylings”.
Shey heard The Stones “Jumping Jack Flash”, and Dylan’s “Knocking on Heaven’s Door”.
Gigi was surrounded by Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”.
Holly was immersed in Candy Dulfer and Dave Stewart jamming on “Lily Was Here”.
Marina swelled to the heartbreak of “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue”, by Bob Dylan.
Although it was about to storm, each Mystic Owl put an AGM on its back and flew away.
Suddenly, a very dangerous lightening storm broke out. Rene Rosso sent her rendition of “Ain’t No Sunshine” (based on Melody Gardot’s version) out to the AGMs to protect them on their flight back to Chicago.
Meanwhile, back in Chicago, One-Eye was quite stressed. Ms. Rosso had had Rebecca Budd art direct an all out extravaganza, for the last night’s performance in Chicago. Tickets were sold out!
The show was set to start in less than 2 hours. Would Rene Rosso & the Art Gowns Models get back in time? Stay tuned for the next episode to find out!
Their names are hot under their Spirit Gown drawings, so visit away!
FYI – The Spirit Gowns were drawn all, or in most part to the songs named under their sketches. {“live, solo, electric guitar stylings”, “Baby Blue”, “Jumping Jack Flash”, & “Knocking on Heaven’s Door”} were played by the Band Under Resa’s Bed.
You are my only fave soprano, ever! Thank you so much for this interview! Just so everyone knows, I put my questions/voice in regular type. I put Charlotte’s answers/voice in italics. So, let’s get rolling!
Resa: – Charlotte, have you ever worn an expensive costume, and spilled something on it, torn it or otherwise perhaps even ruined it?
Charlotte: I can remember two occasions with costumes/dresses that I was performing in that I owned. However, stage costume wise no mishaps happily. Touch wood! I’m always really careful.
I was at Edvard Grieg’s house in Troldhaugen, Norway. I was about to perform in the composer’s home. It’s a converted living museum, with his original piano and lots of important antiques around. It has a beautiful concert hall.
In the green room in the basement of the house, I was with the other singers from the workshop. Another person had just made herself a fresh hot red berry tea. She spun around and spilt it down my tight-fitting, gold sequin evening dress. She was horrified and pregnant, so I spent a minute telling her it was fine.
The boiling hot liquid was all over the tops of my thighs in a huge red berry puddle. When I felt the heat, I ran to the toilet. The dress’s tight fit made the dress cling, and taking it off was a nightmare. I ripped it off over my head and quickly, with everyone’s help, put cold water on my thighs. They rescheduled my songs till later in the programme. I washed the liquid out under the tap and tried to dry it as best I could. It was the only performance dress I had with me, so just before the performance I put it back on. It was like a wet suit, but I wasn’t not going to perform or sing in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I still have the dress. The dry cleaners managed to get the stain out.
The other costume mishap was at the Llangollen Eisteddfod last year. I was going to be performing with the World-renowned tenor Rolando Villazon and was very excited about it. I’d always wanted a Sherri Hill dress, and this was a perfect excuse to invest in a beautiful ball gown stage dress. I was so excited about wearing it. It was a princess line, in pale lilac satin. I’d bought a new strong roll-on deodorant; one of those that last 48 hours. I put my deodorant on, then put my dress on. I normally put my shoes on first, and step into a dress like this carefully. But this deodorant was still wet. I leant forward to tie my shoe buckles, and I then had two perfect wet circles on the front skirt of the dress with no time to do anything about it. Perhaps I should be more careful with gowns I own!
Resa: Speaking of gowns, I only wish I could have been around to supply you with Balcony Gowns, during the lockdown. I watched and listened to ALL of your balcony performances with George. I’m thrilled that “Je Veux Vivre” will be among the songs on your upcoming CD!
Resa: Have you ever had to wear a costume that fit you like….umm… a ship? Did it affect your vocal performance, or your acting performance?
Charlotte: So far, I’ve worn everything without complaint. The worst for me are shoes that are uncomfortable because most costume people will just adjust wrong fitting items.
I do remember two awkward costumes, but they were from my childhood. I had a costume as ‘Pumba’ in the Lion King. In order to give me more girth, the costume department attached a hula hoop to my trousers. It was fun, and the costume was light. However, it did impact on my spacial awareness. I had to be careful not to bump into the other dancers, and it was awkward to roll around in.
The next one was when I performed as King Louis, from The Jungle Book. The costume department wanted to elongate my arms so they attached mop poles within my costume arms. At the end of the poles, they attached huge purple hands. The costumers put orange/red fur sleeves over my arms and hands, to disguise the added length. I had to make orangutan gestures with those arms. It was really fun, but challenging. I took care not to hit anyone else. Yet, there was a hood that came over my eyes, which made taking care more difficult 😊. I’d love to do something like that again in an opera.
Resa: Oh, Charlotte! thank you so much for sending in these photos of when you were that cute Orangutan! Everyone will love how cute you are in the slideshow!
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Resa: As an Opera Soprano, who are your 3 fave female Rock Singers (living or not)? What song from each would you like to sing?
Charlotte: Annie Lennox – I love her views on singing. She really believes “Singing a song is one thing, but expressing a song is another. It’s deep. There is magic, an alchemic quality. Everyone should feel free to sing. Singing is uplifting and freeing of your spirit. There are no rules”. I’m not sure which song I could manage because I think she’s a contralto/mezzo but I love ‘Walking on Broken Glass’.
I grew up listening to female singers like Blondie [Heart of Glass or Call Me]. Is Kate Bush considered rock? Some of her tracks sound it to me; perhaps Babooshka. Gwen Stefani I loved her songs in No Doubt like Don’t Speak.
Resa: I’d say Kate is in an Art Rock category. She really is an independent artist.
Resa: I’d love to see you and George do a set of Rock Classics – Any songs between 1968 – 1998! What songs would your set include?
Female rock singers I like are usually in the mezzo-soprano middle voice range. Maybe one of Taylor Swifts songs, a Bjork song or Evanescence’s Wake me Up Inside. My Dad loves Queen so something adapted from them maybe. Are Prince, Alicia Keys and Blondie considered rock? Perhaps you could give me some suggestions Resa, I asked my Mum and she said perhaps something by Stevie Nicks.
Resa: Those all sound like great options. Yes, Prince, Alicia Keys and Blondie are all in rock categories. I would love to hear you do a Stevie Nicks song! Of course Freddie Mercury had a great set of pipes, and you are a very colourful singer. I’m sure something could be adapted for you. Just thinking about it gives me shivers!
Resa: Who is your fave male Opera Singer? Which would you pick to do a duet with?
Charlotte: My favourite is tricky. I really enjoyed singing with Rolando Villazon. I also like listening to Joseph Calleja. I met Piotr Beczala, and he was just lovely and friendly. All of them, anybody! I’ve had some great male singers in all my performances.
Resa: Would you ever do a Rock Opera; say the role of Nora played by Anne Margaret in “Tommy” by the Who, or how about Janet Vice in the “Rocky Horror Picture Show”?
Charlotte: Definitely. I absolutely love being on the stage and I like trying out different genres it keeps me on my toes. I was a dancer in The Rocky Horror Picture Show when I was younger so I know Janet’s songs inside out and would love to do it. I’ve never heard of The Who’s rock opera but I’ll have a listen now, yes, bring it on.
Resa: Charlotte and I began this journey over a year ago. I began by drawing her face, to get a feel.
Resa: I needed to loosen up, so binge listened to Weber -Kommt Ein Schlanker Bursch Gengangen and did Crazy Free Art to Music. The abstract of Charlotte’s face, below the video, was the result.
Resa: I did some gown sketches, and asked Charlotte what operas they might be appropriate for. I tried so hard to do my best drawings, that they came out stiff/out of proportion. Although I quite like all of the designs, this is the only one I still like the drawing of. I will redo the others.
Charlotte: The white dress reminds me of wedding dresses, so Suzanna in ‘La Nozze di Figaro’ or Zerlina in Don Giovanni, or Elvira in the mad scene in ‘il Puritani’. Another new aria I’ve learned is Qui La Voce.
Resa: Here’s another design I did for Charlotte, during the loosening up period. She adores the colours!
Dahlings, it’s me, Rene Rosso! Welcome to A Tangle Of Stars!
Tonight’s Stars are Resa (aka One- Eye), and Rebecca Budd. Rebecca did a podcast where she interviewed Resa about her Art Gowns.
I’m sure you’ll want to hear the Podcast, so click on the banner below.
Of course now that One -Eye has had her moment of glory, I am thrilled to tell you that I will be reciting Holly – House of Heartpoetry, through Rebecca Budd’s voice. One-Eye is working on the contract.
Remember Poppy from a gala fundraiser & show of support for all victims of rape, sexual abuse and crimes of violence (click above pic for post) where she performed a jazzy ballet with Marina Kanavaki. They wore identical costumes.
Of course Chicklet Poppy had a trial run at The Tangle of Stars hairdo. Look how fabulous I look. Such talent!
That concludes this first ever, most wonderful “A Tangle of Stars”. Tata! See you at the second one!
The moment Rene Rosso felt Rebecca Budd’s estranged & frantic energy, she instinctively morphed into Princess Blue Holly.
Princess Blue Holly looked into her Tangle-Heart. The signal was weak.
Her Tangle-Heart managed to connect via the moon to a magic orb from Dale’s Peach tree.
It led Blue Holly to a wind farm outside of Chicago. It was here she found the Art Gowns Models planted firmly into the good earth.
She also found the tornado that had captured them. It was Etamilc Egnahc. Poor thing had once been Blue Holly’s friend; a gentle, soothing summer breeze. Then climate change turned her into a PBH nemesis.
“Blue Holly, welcome to my Art Gowns Models Plantation! Seems whenever the Art Gowns Models are in jeopardy, you come to the rescue. Well, you’re too late! They’re already growing roots, and once they go to seed I’ll be planting Art Gowns aplenty.”
“I’m sick and tired of wearing doors, chairs, trees, birdbaths and whatnot. From now on it’s nothing but Art Gowns in my crown, and I’ll be beautiful.”
Suddenly, cries of “help me” were heard. It was the scarecrow.
“His name’s ‘Oron. He’s from Manchester. I picked him up while on a whirlwind tour of the U.K. Thought he’d make a good scarecrow, which is what you’ll be when I finish with you!”.
With that, Etamilc became very aggressive, growing until she finally sucked up Princess Blue Holly. Unfortunately, she also sucked up the scarecrow. Etamilc began winding her way to Lake Michigan, where she intended to dump Blue Holly.
We interrupt this currently scheduled blogcast with Breaking News! The AIDAS, Association of International Divas And Singers, has just revealed that renown Torch Singer Rene Rosso, previous to her most recent concert, had hired One-Eye for the position of Personal Manager.
Lala Laswirl, Spokes-Singer for the AIDAS, sang out harshly against the move. She also chastised Ms. Rosso for copying Veronica Lake, accusing her of trying to suck up to One-Eye. “It’s outrageous, and unheard of! No one has ever hired a One-Eye blog mascot for anything!”
” This is the most outlandish move Rene Rosso has made since she incorporated a rendition of a Stevie Nicks Rock’n’Roll song into her Torch repertoire! I wouldn’t be surprised if One-Eye put her up to it.”
As they approached Lake Michigan, PBH was whipping her spiked leaves and poison berries at the walls of Etamilc’s vortex. ‘Oron’s head snapped off the scarecrow’s pole, and whirlpooled into the exact centre of Etamilc Egnahc, causing her to go off balance and plunge into the massive lake, taking Blue Holly and ‘Oron with her.
Using her cyclone power, Etamilc arose from the lake as a waterspout. No matter how hard PBH tried to climb out of the swirling water, Etamilc managed to keep her prisoner.
Using her Tangle-Heart as a conduit, she called upon her Inner Dragon. Hyperion heard, and roared loudly.
It was at that exact moment that Art Gowns Model Dale connected to her Peach Tree. The magic tree was confused. It was above and below. What did it all mean?
In the middle of a Pandemic, Jennifer, who is not a professional model, modelled an Art Gown. Why? Well, I helped mentor her into the Costume department in the film biz. This was her idea of a payback.
It was a first class thrill to see Velvet Tango on Jennifer. I only took around 1200 pics. It’s taken me weeks to choose the best 130, then pare that down to the ones you see in this post.
It was an overcast day. The above shot was taken when the sun came out briefly, but I don’t understand why it is so very different. There were about 6 shots that came out like this.
Bewitched by all the choices, I decided to post them in the location order that they were taken. We started on the fire escape.
Above is the only gust of wind during the entire shoot.
Then we were at the bottom of the fire escape.
From there we moved into the alley. I adore alleys. There’s almost never anyone else. We shot for a half hour. Not one person walked by. One guy did sit on his fire escape to watch.
It was a wonderful day! Jen looks amazing, and she wore no make-up; just lipstick and sunglasses.
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The Covid numbers were down in Toronto. Jen and I took all required precautions.
