“Hitting the Road, Jack…”

Photo by Tim Bosworth

Once more for the people at the back: I AM NOT RETIRING FROM MODELLING YET- JUST MY BLOG. 😉

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Dudes, dudesses and odd person from Pittsburgh who genuinely believes I am part of the Roswell Incident; I’ve been writing this blog for seven years and of all the things I’ve created, I am probably most proud of this one.
While maintaining this little corner of the internet, I went from being an assistant in an amazing hippy and pagan shop to becoming a full-time international model. This blog has seen two long term relationships end and one begin. It has seen me drastically change my modelling journey twice- from alt and art-nude, to fetish, to the current fine-art, curvy fashion and femme fatale of today. I have written some of what I consider my best work, sparked an argument or two, *cough* Helmut Newton *cough*,  met some amazing people and helped put a serial rapist in prison. I get overwhelmed when I think about my long term relationship with this seven year project…

But this is sounding like a goodbye, isn’t it? 😉 That’s because it is.

Photographers, I promised I would give you at least a year’s notice before I hang up my Suitcase of Doom- this is not it. I’m not saying farewell to modelling but… at least for now… I’m taking off my blogging hat. I have so many other exciting projects I’m working on that I can no longer spend the time on this one.

I will still be writing guest posts on other industry blogs and posting regularly on my social media- I’ve linked the places you can find me below and I hope to see you there. ❤
I’m not taking the whole blog down- my old posts are here for anyone who wants to read them and I have linked some of the most popular ones below as well.

Thankyou from the bottom of my little black heart for all of the support and for sharing my posts. See you in another corner of the internet! 😉

ROSWELL xxx

WHERE TO FIND ME NOW?
Portfolio
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POSTS YOU MAY LIKE

Modelling tips and tales:
– Tips for planning a tour
– How to shoot in freezing conditions
– Upping your game
– Guys With Cameras. How a total newbie can book an excellent model
– What do models eat?
– Tales of a naked girl
– Confessions of a nude model- a wee rantette
– What to do when the worst has happened
– The real thing: a rant

The Shaun Colclough case (in chronological order):
1) The importance of references
2) Proud
3) Justice
4) Peacocks Swansong
5) Aftermath

Assorted wordy rambles:
– Committing heresy: I (mostly) hate Helmut Newton
– Give me hope (sterilisation and the childfree movement)
– “Dangers untold and hardships unnumbered”
– Solidarity with Stoya
– A Tale of Two Captions
– Death Becomes Her
– Care
– When the veil thins…

P.S. I couldn’t leave without posting some pictures… and I’ll post more from ALL of these sets on my social media.

New edit from an old shoot by the incomparable Max Operandi

Two from a photoshoot with WOLVES, by my friend Valeria Kogan. Make-up/hair by Naomi Benjamin, dress by Joanne Fleming

In my bridesmaids dress! Photo by GaryMac and make-up/hair by me

I posed with a male model for the first time in YEARS and fortunately it’s my friend Darren S, who you should all book because he rocks. Photos by Tim Bosworth
I love the “American Horror Story” look of the last few- check out the crazy shadows!

I completed the “nude model seasonal rite of passage” this year. (Spring is bluebells, summer is rapeseed, autumn is leaves, winter is snow).
Photo by Scarecrow

Mermaiding about, by Andy Green
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And finally…….. shots from the beyond multitalented and lovely Liv Free, who took the photos, made the big headdress, did my hair and made-up and edited the pictures. ❤

What a Wonderful World

Being me, a title like this could have been posted with about 35% sarcasm but not today. Absolutely nothing groundbreaking has happened but I’m just in a wonderfully good mood. I came back from a really fantastic mini-tour to find my fake wisteria had arrived so I could finish my Zen garden, I also had a graze box AND a new book (Talking Heads) in my pigeonhole. The ducks are sitting on the roof of the pub again (which just looks bloody hilarious) and I have at last named the swans. Frank and Claire. 😛 Oh, and raspberries were half-price today.

So I made my zen garden, ate raspberries and fed my current addiction, Sons of Anarchy, which is the best non sci-fi thing I’ve seen barring Breaking Bad. (House of Cards is on a par). Disclaimer: I’m about to start season 3. No spoilers please, or I’ll go berserk. 😛
I’ll be the first person to admit I really don’t mind totally unfeminist films like James Bond and Death Race on occasion. In my opinion, not every film or TV show has to provide a teaching moment BUT… when something is done well or breaks the mould, it stands out to me and I fall slightly in love with the show/film’s creators. I’m not going to give an in-depth feminist critique after so many recent ‘serious’ blogs but I just want to mention how much I love what I’ve seen so far. While the traditional role of women in the show is either groupie/prostitute (so far, consensually) or ‘old lady’ (wife/serious partner) there IS an honour code of respect. For example, a douchebag gets punched in the face for hitting his girlfriend. (Neither are known to the gang- it was a chance encounter).
My favourite character is the matriarch Gemma, and the way the show dealt with two instances of rape in two seasons was brilliant. (And bloody.) I’ll leave the feminist soapboxing about rape as a plot device for another time (I’m in favour) but here we are: two rapes, one involving a central character and one involving someone we barely know. Both times, the rape is seen as completely unacceptable, revenge is imperative and while we don’t know the final fate of one perpetrator, the best case scenario is that he’s singing soprano with the local choir.
And the soundtrack ROCKS! It has two of my favourite songs on it. Repeat button + air guitar = the neighbours may hate me…

Oh, THAT was the other awesome thing- I bought my ticket for Wasteland Weekend! I’m now working on a couple of costumes (any photographers who want to shoot Mad Max style awesomeness, send me a message and book your shoot) and deciding what I want to see while I’m out in California. I might as well stay for a few extra days, right?

The make-up selfies are from yesterday’s shoot with Jimmy Deas. So many changes, so many headdresses (by Pixified Bootique). 🙂

Now, I have a week of writing before a shoot in a beautiful boudoir followed by a fully-booked South Coast tour and an Easter visit with one of my favourite ladies. ❤ Which reminds me, I think I may treat myself to some teeny Hotel Chocolat eggs this year! I actually learned how to make vegan chocolate myself at the Womens’ Day celebration so I will also be trying my hand at egg-shaped truffles too!

As I’m sure most longtime readers will know, I’m on Zivity and I have been shockingly bad at updating you with news about my sets! Sorry about that. If you prefer to view one set at a time (which you can do for just $3), you should know I have mermaid sets, pin-up, crazy make-up, 80s, lingerie and more. My profile is here and today’s happy blog features a photoshoot from a weekend I loved! (Dominatrix, in Holland). There are loooads more pictures from this set on Zivity so go and have a look- non members can still see the sets by paying a couple of dollars.
The photographer is fellow model Maja Stina, who you should also check out. We got all inspired by night time Amsterdam, lol!

And for a day in which I’m feeling 10 feet tall, have a couple of bonus pics from our other shoot- in which I look 10 feet tall! I’m wearing Yummy Gummy latex

You will be pleased to know I did not fall in the bath despite my legendary clumsiness (today’s ridiculous injury: burning myself on a butternut squash.)

Going to turn off the internet for tonight and investigate the hot chocolate situation…

ROSWELL xxx

p.s. All together now: I SEE TREEEEES OF GREEEEN! RED ROSES TOOOOOO…

Returning colour

I’m embarrassingly reminded of the Addams Family: Gomez takes Morticia’s arm and remarks on what a beautiful night it is, to which she agrees- “oh yes, rain…”
I love Autumn- I love that hawthorn and holly trees now seem more berry than leaf, which makes me glad that the blackbirds have a fighting chance for the winter (I worry about the birds when it gets cold). I love the way the hills- yes, there are hills in Bedfordshire- seem to have changed into hundreds of pastel colours as I fly past on various trains. And, yes I love rainstorms. As long as I’m on my way back from a photoshoot and not leaving for one, I like to sit by a window- any window- with a hot foamy drink and watch. The stormier the better.

Right now, after the chaos of the late summer, I’m contented to sit and enjoy the season. There will be a little more craziness tomorrow as I pick up more of my worldly possessions, but for the first time in a long time, I am on my way to feeling myself again.
I was going to post some pictures of me actually wearing something but as I had these images in my inbox and they fit perfectly, well I’m not going to argue… Photographer Jamie aka here4art is doing a project about reality. Real women of all sizes, without the aid of photoshop. This is, of course an issue I’ve been interested in (as anyone who read this epic rant will know), so I loved taking part and can’t wait to see the finished book!
During the shoot I bounced around the studio, danced like a fool, leaped into the air and probably startled Jamie when instead of sitting on the chair I was given to pose with, I put it on my head, lol! 😀 Very fitting then, that I am now dancing around the room in a similar bonkers manner.

I stopped in my tracks earlier on realising what I was dancing to. Listen to the lyrics.

ROSWELL xxx

Eurotour: Part 4

And so my Berlin trip continues! As a shoot or two got postponed and Tom came to be a tourist for a weekend, I had the chance to:
– Try Bubble Tea (amazing stuff. Want some now)
– Eat yummy Indonesian lunch with Matthieu Richardoz and WildAtHeart
– Stay at the Propeller Island Lodge Hotel
– Eat strudel and Haagen-Dazs
– Visit the Neue Museum (it has the bust of Nefertiti in it)
– And snuggle cute things

So have some more Berlin…

Outside at the Neue Museum: (I would have loved to shoot here but sadly it is so busy here that it would have been impossible.)

Inside the Museum! (Not allowed to take photos of Nefertiti, but she was very pretty- and had one white eye 😀 )

This is ancient Assyrian (I think!) I’d love to be able to read it- check out the writing!

We went into Potsdamer Platz for some food and instead found huskies! Even people I know who don’t like dogs in general make an exception for huskies. 🙂

Who can resist a huskyball?

THIS is where we stayed. Seriously, open the link and check out the rooms. They rock.

When Tom headed back to the land of Cheddar, queues and wonderful wonderful Marmite, I went to stay with the lovely Nina Ann and her adorable cat Mitzy who purrs at 100 decibels and eats attention like my cat Mog eats tuna.

We rocked a pub quiz (Oh yes, we knew our Rocky Horror Show), had amazing cocktails and ate toasted sandwiches. It was really really nice to be able to hang out with friends again after staying a week in a hostel- I’d had an attack of the lonelies. 😦

On my last day in Berlin, I went with a new American friend (Hanna) to sightsee- and discovered Tacheles. It’s a former Nazi/SS hangout that has now become an artists commune. It is about seven storeys high, covered in graffiti (arty graffiti) and each room houses an artist or three, and a lot of beautiful things for sale. (Sadly I was not able to buy- I had a health emergency and had to spend precious euros on a doctor, but I WILL be back next year for that fish necklace.) They even had a teeny garden for people to make huge metalwork sculptures!
Seriously, it is an amazing place. If you’re going to/currently in Berlin, it’s almost opposite the Synagogue.
 

These pictures don’t do it justice so click on the link above.

I added something… 😉 And yes, it is a London tube map- I couldn’t find my notebook. (I really NEED that “fantastical creatures” origami book I saw in Waterstones…)

Me being acquainted with a real German:

I was sad to say goodbye to these guys: (L-R: Nina, Hanna, Me)

And snugglebunch here:

These two pictures illustrate how I saw Berlin better than anything I can say:

Everything is so beautiful, but so much of it is covered in bullet holes. You literally cannot escape the history behind the place (not that you’d want to- but you can’t). Everything that isn’t big ,ancient and majestic is bohemian and (eco-) friendly. (Like the “improved” traffic light.)
If I could live anywhere that isn’t England, I’d pick Germany at the moment- and probably Berlin. I’m planning to tour the whole country next year so if you’re a German photographer and interested in booking me, it’s never too early to get in touch.

So, I moved on to Amsterdam- which comes in my next post. But then I came back to Germany (Mulheim) for a day to shoot with Hart-Worx. It was only a few days ago but I already have a picture back!

Beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…

Photographer: Hart-Worx
Designer: HMSlatex (Custom)
Make-up/wig: Me

More on their way- we shot lots of gorgeous outfits and I sloshed make-up and hair stuff about. I love getting the chance to style myself! 😀

Here are a couple of behind-the-scenes pics from our last set:

The location:

Practising poses:

Why do dogs *always* gatecrash my shoots??

Am I above bad pony puns?
Neigh.

ROSWELL xxx

p.s. Yesterday, I had one of the best days of my life. Until someone I think highly of told me I’m pessimistic. I don’t think I’m pessimistic but just in case, here’s a list of things that have made me happy/laugh recently.

– Seeing wild boar for the first time (and the biggest herd of deer I’ve ever seen)
– Trying to mime “red squirrel” to a Dutch photographer who didn’t know the word in English
– Beginning my second draft of my second novel “Saving Bailey”
– Being e-mailed by one of my best girls with a party invite, saying it would mean a lot if I could be there (thanks Amy!)
– Seeing windmills (even though I get the song about the little mouse in old Amsterdam in my head Every. Single. Time.)
– A very immature joke about singing in the shower (If I know you IRL, you’ll be subjected to it soon enough)
– Reading Bill Bryson’s “A Short History…” and recognising names (I wanted to be a palaeontologist when I was little)
– New nude photos (you’ll see them soon)
– Having a fascinating and argument-free conversation about religion/censorship with a new friend.
– Seeing someone fold a bike in half on the train. I’d never seen it done before!

Happy enough??

If not, I challenge anyone not to smile after seeing this.