‘spiration

Happy slightly-belated Ostara and blessed be to my fellow pagans, Happy Easter to my Christian friends, and Happy International Chocolate Scoffing Day to everyone else.

Oh, viewers, I’ve been neglecting you! I had some fantastic news about my writing and so I dropped everything in order to meet a scary deadline. Pleased to say that the deadline was in fact, today and I made it!!! I have finished my second draft (which is the final major draft) of my novel so I can now stop ending entries with “got to go- I’m stuck on Chapter Nine”!

So, what other news can I tell you? Well, I’ve lost half a stone and that’s what I’d like to tell you all about today.
Now, if somebody large enough to be considered unhealthy by today’s society decides to lose weight, the world is in general, supportive. However, as a model and person of about average (maybe a little smaller than average) size, I find that if I mention toning up, losing weight or exercising, I find myself fielding the same questions on a regular basis. Now, I could rant, but as I’ve already had one of those recently and am feeling happy today, I’m going to take the time to have a chat about it all…

“What diet are you following?”
I do not believe diets promote sustainability so what I have done is change my entire lifestyle:
- Exercise as many days as possible (if it’s a busy day, leave it and don’t feel bad)
- Drink more water
- Begin each day with a green smoothie.
- Cut down on dairy significantly
- Cut out sweet things entirely, with the exception of fruit.

“Is this due to industry pressure?”
Yes, and no.
I am capable of quite surprising greed. (I do not mean ‘three chocolates and a diet Coke”- I mean I am capable of eating an entire tub of ice cream in one go. Not that I do this any more, but I have been known to. Mostly as a student…) Ignoring the potential weight gain for a moment, this is not a balanced or healthy way of living. When I’m writing, I spend all day on my butt in front of the computer and get no exercise at all, which is also less-than-healthy. Therefore, no. I’m doing this for me.
However, I see nude pictures of myself almost daily which form a relatively accurate ‘size diary’. If I am untoned, I do not find myself as attractive as when I am toned. I am naturally very curvy with large muscular thighs, therefore I will usually be bigger than most models I am paired with. As long as I am toned and healthy like a comic book heroine, I can accept this. However, if my muscles are hidden under a little bit of fat and I’ve eaten badly all month, then of course I feel self-conscious. In this way, yes- I am doing this so I look better in my images and I do not feel this is a bad thing.

“You don’t want to look like Kate Moss, do you?”
If I wanted to resemble Kate Moss, I would snort my bodyweight in cocaine, stop giving the impression I have any grey matter between my ears and purr “get the London look” at regular intervals. (Not a Moss fan here- can you tell?)
In all seriousness though, I am losing fat in order to show off the toned muscles underneath. I am not trying to change my body shape. I have breasts, a bum and thighs. Unless I became very very ill, this would not change no matter how thin I got.

“But you’re beautiful as you are!”
That is so very kind of you, and thankyou! I really do appreciate the sentiment, but I would like to be a little- just a little- smaller, and so I am working hard to achieve that.

Most people who spend a lot of time online know about what people like Dawn Porter call “that SHOCKING trend for… ugh… ‘thinspiration’. Oh… oh my god, I can’t BELIEVE IT!” Basically, it is inspiration for people with eating disorders- words, pictures, GIFs etc that encourage unhealthy weight loss.
However, I discovered FITspiration by accident a little while ago and have enjoyed following blogs and saving images ever since. It is what I would call an antidote to thinspiration- promoting health and exercise over weight loss, though there are some good weight loss ones too. I’d like to share some of my “fit folder” images with you.

If you’d like to see more, just google “fitspiration” and if you have a question I haven’t covered, feel free to mail me- I always respond to messages and comments.

For now though, have a lovely picture I forgot to post a year ago! It’s by Artrotika and I’m looking all tranquil and balanced. Just the way I feel at the moment!

See you soon, everyone- I have to go and wri… wait, no. I’m going to put my feet up!

ROSWELL xxx

The Tradition

Well, I’m definitely being traditional right now- packing for my shoot tomorrow (stately home- vintage pin-up!) while e-mailing while writing novel while trying to decide between coffee and the other hot drinks I have. Good old multi-tasking!

It was while thinking about writing this blog that I realised I hadn’t posted any ‘classic Roswell’ art-nude images in a while- so I found this lovely set by Tim Pile which haven’t been on here before. We had a lovely day shooting among standing stones in the wilds of Dartmoor before this studio day so I can’t wait to return to the area of course. I do love my standing stones…

These images were taken in Stuart House- a lovely hidden-away place near Cornwall.

Looking at these pics make me a very happy lady- I’m going to talk about it in an upcoming blogpost, but I’ve spent the past year or so working on improving my body, which has included losing quite a bit of weight (these pics- especially the 3rd one- are an accurate representation of how I look now). But that’s another story… all about nutrition and food and colours!

Now, a couple of entries back, I was talking about how horror films aren’t too scary these days. A few minutes ago, I put my words on a Ryvita with houmous and ate them. Sort of.
I watched “Splice” last night, which is something I’ve wanted to see for ages but my sci-fi friends weren’t keen on the horror aspect and my horror friends saiid ‘eurgh, sci-fi.’ Long story short, no one wanted to go. It definitely is more sci-fi than horror, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t scary. I think it depends very much on what frightens you more:
Imaginary Scenario 1: A character is hiding from something. You can’t see it, they can’t see it but you know that any second, it’s going to appear and make you jump out of your seat. Any second, any second, any second. ARGH!!! You jumped anyway.
Imaginary Scenario 2: A character is hiding from something or someone. They can’t see it, but behind them in a pool, you see a head appear, and shoulders, and finally it moves closer and closer as you scrunch up in your seat so you are very small.

For me, while I jump very easily, the second scene is creepier, and this is what Splice is full of. You know something bad is going to happen- something bad is always going to happen when you play around with genetics and hybrids, but it’s still like watching a car crash that you just can’t stop as more and more bad things get pulled into the wreck.

One thing that should be mentioned: It is disturbing. Very disturbing. I’m talking mutilation and sexual violence, and eventually I was unsure exactly who to feel sorry for. I just watched an interview with one of the actresses, who mentioned the difficulty of only having two words in the entire film, but, wow. She manages to convey everything with body language and you want to take care of the character, even when she behaves badly. Given that this character though the entire film behaves in a certain way, it makes one particular scene even more disturbing (and I think you have to watch the whole film to understand so I won’t post it here).
The ending… yep, creepy but something about it just didn’t ring true. If you’ve seen the film and disagree, come and have an argument (just kidding- no arguing here).
So… yes, if you’re looking for scary films, check out that one.

More reviews and writing and stuff coming soon, though right now my book is taking priority- so close to finishing! Wish me luck…

ROSWELL xxx

Long time, no nudes!

Note to photographers: I’m almost completely fully booked for the rest of the year. If you’d like to discuss a booking in January, do get in touch!

Anyway…

Well, knock me down with a feather! It’s been over a month since I was nude on my blog, (mostly because I’ve been doing a lot of latex and leather modelling), and it’s lovely to be able to share some good news with these images!

Firstly, congratulations to Brian Hopper, who has won the Silver FKM Award for a photo of me! It’s called “Veiling The Nude” and here it is:

And last March, I was touring the South Coast (and will probably do so this March or April too…), and posed for artist Nelson Aquini, around a concept inspired by Francis Bacon’s work. “Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion”. He’s finished the painting- check it out!!

Before beginning the shoot, I had a bit of an exploring session around the studio. As a painter myself, I love to see what other artists do and how they put their work up. It was amazing to see so many styles and sources of inspiration in one place!

I’m inspired by so many things and after a lot of persuasion from my friend Pirate Photography, I’ve created a Tumblr account so I can post some of the things that inspire me, as well as older images of me that I think need another outing.
At the moment, I am trying to upload an image *every day* so if you’d like more of a Roswell fix, follow me!

I’m off to continue part 2 of my novel…

ROSWELL xxx

p.s. Mog Tales:
My cat came home injured the other day. Don’t worry- he’s fine, no matter how much he’s milking it at the moment. (Just a scratch and a limp- both are gone now). I asked my mum to keep an eye on him, then went out with a friend. While shopping this conversation happened:

L: “So how’s he doing? Is he okay?”
Me: “He’s okay. Mum says he’s a wimp but when he comes home frightened and hurt and bleeding, it’s heartbreaking.”
Little Old Lady: “I’d take it up with his school if I were you!”

News

“It’s a dangerous business, going out of your door. You step onto the road and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to…” (JRR Tolkien/Bilbo Baggins)

Well… I’ve just made a rather large change. As of today,  I will be a full-time nomad and will be spending even more time travelling for shoots than I do already. Obviously, it’s an exciting thing but right now, today (and I’ve been up since 5am), I’m feeling a bit… I’m not sure really.
I rarely post fiction work, but thought I’d share this with you, as it was the first thing I wrote, sitting in Luton Airport, after realising that I could no longer stay in the city I’ve been living in ever since I was eighteen.

“…she enjoyed the anonymity of the airport- the uniformity and the table companions who could have been speaking in tongues for all she knew. It was unashamedly ugly, and a welcome escape, for home was beautiful, bright, adorned with bunting and filigree. Hell, even the graffitti was aethetically pleasing! She wondered how it was that such a lovely place as Norwich could be lacking something, and whatever the ‘something’ was, it made her lonely enough to check the mirror each morning to make sure she was not slowly losing colour. Turning beige. Or grey.
And the guilt nagged too. Berlin couldn’t help but remind her that a city could have worse problems than ‘a lack of something’ but still the last time she had felt part of something was back there, with a birthday girl, a drunk au-pair and a man nicknamed ‘Eggs’, for no apparent reason.
Alone and with nothing better to do than debate, debate she began. Norwich was in no way soulless- she could see it in the very stones. The cathedral spire felt like an old friend, the resident peregrines like children. The secret garden full of an old eccentric’s gothic trinkets held mysteries to be observed not unravelled. It was an artist’s paradise, and she noted with pride (and more than a little glee) that the chain galleries and generic print shops never lasted more than a few months here. No. The city had a soul- what it lacked lay within it’s inhabitants. Or rather, it didn’t. That was the problem.

When she felt sad and lonely, she would paint and draw on anything within reach. A long time ago- and she couldn’t remember it herself- her mother had caught her with arms covered in inky vines, flowers and birds. The designs trailed across her left arm up to the shoulder and she was clumsily covering her right, wrong-handed.
“What are you doing??” her mother had shrieked. “Are you going to sea??”
“If I don’t do something else, I’m afraid I may cut my heart out!” she had responded with great passion.
Such melodrama her mother remembered fondly, lifting her from the hard stone chair. That was before either knew about the affinity. She was only six at the time and hadn’t the words to explain. The mason who had made the chair with his own hands had suffered from a profound heartache. She never knew what became of him, only the pain with which he made the chair, with his strong callused hands. Now, away from the sweet trance of childhood, she was more than capable of making her heartaches of her own. Still, her habit of decorating remained and as she thought of Nortwich, with its painted alleys, its sculptures and its knitted covers for everything from the trees to the lamp posts, she couldn’t help but wonder if the people splashing their colours all over the city were also masking a loneliness. She didn’t know whether or not to feel glad.

Not that she was entirely devoid of friends, and one of two of them were even human. Ignus wasn’t one of them. He was a little harder to reach than most, but she didn’t see distance as a problem. When one wished to spend time with another, one set aside the time, didn’t one? Not so in Norwich, she mused. Distance was spoken of in the same tone as one might say ‘I’d love to visit, but they live in the sky and I have no wings.’ That excuse would be mostly acceptable and she smiled at her own whimsy as she hurdled her way over the brittle scrub of Autumn toward the squat shape on the horizon.
“Leave then,” it shouted at her in a dark granite voice. Ignus wasn’t known for constructing elaborate sentences when a single word or two would do. Like the cathedral, the cobbles and the city itself, Ignus could have been there since time began, and he would stay however much he complained about it. Most of it was for show. A personality that he had have discovered somewhere, and one that stuck to him like a thistlehead…”

I found Ignus in the Peak District, where I just went on holiday

So there you go. Change ahead, and if you’d like to know when I’m available for booking in your area, keep checking back HERE for my most up-to-date calendar. If your location isn’t listed, get in touch and let’s see what I can do!

Wish me luck,

ROSWELL xxx

HELP- In the name of Feminism!!!

Hey again!

I’m back from holiday- it was beautiful but reception-less so apologies if you’re waiting for an e-mail from me! I think I’m up to date now but if you are waiting, do tell me.
We went to the Peak District for a week, which was very much needed and very beautiful. So much so that I’ll be touring the area for a short time at the end of October, and again next year! If you’d like to be put on my mailing list, let me know and I’ll keep you updated with my travel plans. I’ll post some photos next entry… and believe me, you are going to want to see this entry as I have some huge news…

Anyway… I entered a writing competition recently, for well-known feminist online magazine Feministing. The prize is a regular contribution slot so for obvious reasons, the idea of winning this is a dream come true.
It would mean the world to me if you read the two pieces I entered and if you commented (sign up in one easy step, or sign in if you use wordpress) , I’d be even happier!

Jeremy Kyle- Give women some credit! (It’s about claiming responsibility over our bodies and reproductive rights)

What happens after you save the world? (Female rights fighters- where are they now?)

Thanks so much- you rock.

Also, while I’m here and it’s my birthday, THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU to the very kind fans who have sent me birthday wishes and presents from my wishlist. I’ve really been overwhelmed and had some very lovely surprises waiting for me when I  returned home from holiday. Return surprises are currently on their way to those fans.
Keep an eye out for my next entry- I’m off to have a Harry Potter marathon, with homemade raspberry creme brulee!

Have a fantastic day, everyone!

ROSWELL xxx