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Friday Visual Inspiration: Wrasses!

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Miss Tess

Yesterday I was drawing more postcards to mail out and I decided to do a google image search for Wrasse for some inspiration. I had been drawing sharks and wanted something that looked very serious (the hammerhead sharks I’d been drawing didn’t look quite right wearing tophats) and I thought the Humphead Wrasse would look the sharpest. Little did I know that the Wrasse family of fish contained so many amazing colors!! I quickly became distracted from serious fish and went down the path of colorful rainbow fish. Check some of these guys out! Hover over image for more info and click to view on flickr!

First up is a close up of the Humphead Wrasse! Not a colorful rainbow but it’s still a beautiful tapestry of fishy goodness. These guys get up to 6 feet long and some of the population switches gender around the age of 9. Amazing! I would love for this to be the print on a carpet for some reason. With matching wall paper.

The first of many mystery Wrasses I found on flickr! The photographer called this one Merlin. I love the pink and neon yellow eyeball he’s sporting, especially next to the amazing, luminous violet on his body. I would wear this color combination on a lightweight dress that blows dramatically in the wind.

Another shot of the same type of wrasse from the same photographer.

This one isn’t quite as rainbowtastic but the lime green against the brown would be good in an office situations where you want to stand out but not too much.

This is a Broomtail Wrasse. His pattern isn’t as elaborate but the pink spots on the subtly changing background of green and blue is really quite lovely. This would be a great visual inspiration for face paint I think.

The photographic calls this “dapper wrasse” and he certainly is. Now he could totally wear a top hat.

I love the blue and green on this fishy. His pattern looks slightly raised on his skin though it might be just an illusion.

Klungzingers Wrasse is pretty sharp. White makes a great contrast to the blue, green and pink.

And this wrasse is my favorite of all! Wouldn’t it be amazing to dye your hair in this pattern?

Wow! All this amazing inspiration. I could look at fish pictures all day but I think I need to go draw!

<3 Tess Aquarium

PS What's visually inspiring YOU? I always love looking at new things!

PPS I love this illustration that someone did...he looks sort of mischievous!

Posted in Inspiration | Tagged colors, fish, inspiration, tropical, wrasse | Leave a comment

Things I Love Thursday!

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Miss Tess

All things considered I’m having a great time on my forced vacation/temporary retirement! I love the place where I’m staying, it’s always full of fun and awesome people to talk to and hang out with. My sewing machine’s arrived so I’ve been sewing up a tiny storm. I can’t wait to share with you what I’ve been making! I’m 1 step closer to figuring out how to make metal cat/leopard ears and 2 steps closer to figuring how to get a metal bikini (that I need to order soon…) custom powder coated to the perfect color/sparkliness. Lots of fun projects to think about. Oh, and I got an MRI! It was so cool. Not recommended for people who are claustrophobic but I thought it was pretty rad. I’m nervously excited for the results. Rather than being scared I’m super to have information so I can make a good back plan.

Another fun thing is the large amount of kitties I’ve been running into! I really miss my kitty Maxine, though I’ll be seeing her soon, so the kitty snuggles have been so nice. My favorite cat is the cat across the street who is super friendly. He desperately wants to come in and is always hanging out on the porch or sidewalk so I can grab him and squeeze him! Lookit this cute face!

Hello kitty!

I’ve also been very amused at this silly shirt that I found at the thrift store. I would have gotten it but it was pretty stretched out and the kitty applique was sticky and gross. What a shame! I did find a really cool Unicorn/Pegasus shirt that I hacked up and will be sharing soon. Is it a Unipeg? Pegacorn? Anyone else care to weigh in?

Meow!! Girls totally rule!

All and all I’m feeling very grateful for how things are going even though some parts are difficult. I feel like I’m making forward progress and it’s hard to be glum when there is so many fun things to occupy my time!

What are you thankful for?

xo Miss Tess Aquarium

Posted in TiLT | 1 Comment

Iphone Journaling

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Miss Tess

For the next while my posts are going to be all over the time and place as I go through my photo archives to share things. These are a few slice of life Iphone snaps from right before I left in August til arriving in SF a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

I swore I wasn’t going to buy any more stuff from my work (which is full of amazing and inexpensive STUFF) but I saw this hat and couldn’t resist. I added the pheasant feathers, the duck feathers came with it. I ended up adding shorter feathers as these took out anyone who walked behind me! When I wear this hat (especially if I’m using my cane!) I get the BEST compliments from people who normally don’t acknowledge me. One thing about using a cane is it’s made me see the world in a totally different way.

Lily dog sits on my lap for her last drive down Memorial Drive. She was such a good little doggy and really took the car travel and hotel stays in stride!

Ike got these glasses for us. I think he may have been a little bit serious. I mean, he looks so serious in this picture. We both do.

Pretty clouds in Indiana. Fluffy, beautiful clouds.

Wow, after that we jump to Reno! Post Burning Man. I feel like I went to every single thrift store in Reno, which has bunches! I found a giant pink piece of coral that I’m so excited to display once I’m not a hobo.

I am absolutely bananas for this mural in Clarion Alley in San Francisco. What’s not to love?

The friend we were staying with had a lemon tree in their yard. I grew up eating lemons from our greenhouse all winter so this was a nostalgic treat.

Me giving face in my friends front yard. I’d just retouched my hair. I felt so bad, I didn’t notice that there was a white washcloth in the shower and I totally stained it blue! I don’t mind staining my own possessions but feel terribly guilty if I stain anyone elses!

And my final iphone life pic, me dress up at a kitty pimp on my way to a Psy Trance happy hour with my friend Zach. Now I’m not crazy about Psy Trance but I do like happy hours and Zach so it was quite delightful A little secret? I dislike Psy Trance because I find it impossible to dance to which is perfect for the state of my back right now (as in, no dancing for a while!). I wasn’t even tempted.

(ps my ears light up! I made them from scrap faux fur and suede while I was down for the count at Burning Man)

xoxo Tess Aquarium

Posted in Costumes, Good Lookin', Self Portraits | 2 Comments

My Pilgrimage to Carhenge

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Miss Tess

I don’t know at what point I heard of Carhenge, but at that moment I became obsessed. Something about how silly it seemed, while being so serious. So big. Made of steel and paint. But mostly I loved it because it was so farcical. Over the years I’ve only made it to one other Stonehenge in the US, of which there are many, though I’ve passed within 3 hours of the version in Washington State 2x. Being in a rush on a road trip can mean sacrificing large roadside attractions.

Fast forward to July. Ike and I decided to break up but still be friends and go on a big road trip together. We charted the skeleton of our trip, the first leg being Boston to Seattle via Cleveland on 1-80. Carhenge was only 3 hours off the freeway so we HAD to go. I couldn’t get that close and not go!

While on the road I decided that a photo shoot at Carhenge would be an amazing place to debut my new fashion concept, Tribal Psychedelic. My friend Aimee made me some truly amazing earrings and I wanted to make them my centerpiece.

Unfortunately due to my back and the fact that it was hard to drive all night and all day we didn’t make it to Carhenge until sunset. Although my grand schemes of a fabulous photo shoot were foiled (we literally ran out of the car towards Carhenge to capture the remaining light), we still got some amazing shots! Check ‘em out.

Lookit little Lily dog! She was so sick of being cooped up in the car and was ready for adventure!

Grainy iphone pic. I think those cars look so adorable propped up there.

Hulk Tess holds up ancient cars.

Serious face.

Carhenge Pin-up.

What a blast! I’m already dreaming up my next visit! Been to any amazing roadside attractions this summer?

xo Miss Tess Aquarium

Posted in Daily Fashion, Good Lookin' | Leave a comment

I’m back, My back, and Back to my Root(s)…. Vegetables

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Miss Tess

So I’m back to blogging! My epic move out west went somewhat disastrously due to some big bad back problems. They started in February then got worse and worse til finally I had to get around with a cane because my balance was being affected! I’m back in Boston now as my health insurance is here and I’m starting to get things figured out. Lots of doctor’s visits, body work, reading, relaxing, phone calling. Different kinds of work than I’m used to. (ie, no more professional party girl)

Honestly this has been really difficult but I’m staying positive and learning as much as I can from this experience. I’d been thinking for a while of changing my blog up a bit. To be a bit more of a journal versus simply documenting the things that I DO or MAKE. I’ve been thinking a lot about DOING and MAKING and how I’ve come to define my view of myself as my actions. Right now I can’t really do or make much which at first was SO hard! I was a bit lost and scared and didn’t know the interact with the world. I realized that I’m more than just those things and I want to learn more about different aspects of myself and how I interact with the world.

I’m taking this opportunity to rest, plan, keep in touch with friends, play catch up, work on other art forms, maybe do that site redesign I have the artwork for, be stuff free (most of my possessions are in storage. I have a very small suitcase and a few outfits), and relax. Relax. Such a hard thing to do!

One way that I’ve been relaxing and staying in touch with friends has been to make handmade postcards. It started by modifying vintage repro post cards with cheeky sayings and adding a little sketch to the back, and has now morphed into full blown illustrations using blank postcards.

For a reason too complicated to explain I made this postcard for Ike as a present for buying me new art supplies. Trust me, it makes complete sense.

Next up came the Pastel Parsnip in a color palette more towards what appeals to me.

Then we have some hot pink horseradish. My friend Kari June used to add food coloring to everything to make it more fun. Maybe a project to do to all the condiments?

Aqua and lavender ginger. Delish! Great for afternoon tea cakes.

Next came this radish. Not my favorite. I was watching Rihanna’s Rude Boy music video and I think some of the graphic styling seeped into this radish.

And lastly we have my absolute favorite. I have a friend with whom I can have hours long conversations about leopard print and rainbows. I never knew I had so many opinions! Then I met someone who had so many questions about my opinions while they were forming their own opinions/sourcing materials. I am thankful for this friend for helping me to realize that I love to improve my skills at drawing rainbow leopard print.

These pictures were taken a few days ago when I arrived in Boston after what felt like an eternal plane ride. Since I dyed my hair blue I realized that red lipstick would look great with it! I got this rec from Luxirare , Revlon Just Bitten in Goth. I was torn between this color and a slightly bright red but decided to be a total follower. So far I love it!

When I saw this picture I loved it but I realized I looked very melancholy, which I suppose I was. It’s easy to feel weary when you are in pain. So I tried again with this:

A little strained and fake. I can do better than that!

Alright, there we go! Unlike a chimpanzee, when I bare my teeth I’m being silly! Looking at these pictures I realize that my expression doesn’t always match my inner dialogue. And even when I feel sad or in pain it doesn’t change anything inside. I know that this is hard, but I can do anything and I know that things will be awesome no matter what.

Thanks for listening <3 Miss Tess Aquarium

Posted in Illustrations, Self Portraits | Tagged art, back, beet, carrot, leopard, magritte, miss tess, parsnip, print, radish, rainbow, root vegetable, tess, tess aquarium | 2 Comments

Update from Tessland!

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Miss Tess

After nearly 4 years I decided to change my hair from Pink to BLUE!! I don’t know when I got the idea, I think with all the changes that have been happening in my life it seemed only natural to change my hair color as well Here’s a little photo essay about the process.

First up I chopped of alllll the feathers! Love ‘em but I had SO MANY, over 20 locks (some with 3 sets of 6 feathers on each) plus tinsel. It was nigh impossible to comb my hair let alone dye it evenly. It was quite gratifying to just cut them off and walk around with a handful of pink, sparkly, feathery hair. I also had a really funny big feathery dreadlock that I’d been growing for a while (not on purpose) that I had to cut off. Check out the carnage!

Next up is the bleaching of the hair and eyebrows. I didn’t want to damage my hair too much so whatever pink was left stayed in. The see through eyebrow look is a bit alarming!

Then my friend Aimee helped me apply the dye! I used so many colors, it took forever! The best part is painting on my brows with a paint brush.

And here’s a very 90′s looking shot of me and my friend Madelaine (you may recognize her from previous posts) looking quite fierce. I love that I can wear red lips again, I didn’t like how they looked with pink hair but they look smashing with blue!

And finally the glamor shot You can really see all the colors here, and my scar! I had no idea I had one! No surprised, though I wonder what will reveal itself when I eventually shave it all off!!

My friend Stacey declared this look “Punk Rock Mermaid” and I couldn’t agree more.

xo Miss Tess Aquarium

PS Even though I’m too busy to blog every day I try to post on my facebook page! Photo shoots, Project Runway deets and more! Fan me!

Posted in Good Lookin', Modelling, Self Portraits | 2 Comments

Under the sea with Tess Aquarium

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Miss Tess

Sorry to be AWOL folks!! I going to be moving to San Francisco in less than 3 weeks and I’ve been running around the country and working so I haven’t had much internet time! Hopefully this mermaid will make up for it!

So in early June I posed for *****Dr. Sketchy’s in Boston (organized by Aliza Shapiro of Truth Serum) with my friend Madelaine and we wanted to do an assortment of fantasy creatures, including a mermaid. I’ve been wanting to may a mermaid costume for a very long time and there was an event I wanted to attend themed “Atlantis” the week before so I decided to make my costume earlier so I could wear it there. I ended up staying awake until 4 am to finish the costume

I started with the skirt. I wanted to be able to walk in my skirt while keeping it super tight. The solution I came up with was to insert a zipper into the back seam. In the end I didn’t actually end up using it while I was at the club, it was just too funny to mince about with my mermaid hobble skirt. If there is interest I can give a lesson on how I made the tail, I’ve made 1 more since so I have it down.

I absolutely love headdresses and made that next, I had a blue bikini that I could wear if I didn’t get the top finished. I found the sea shells at the dollar store and the headband and zip ties for the spines of the fins at the dollar store. All I did was arrange the zip ties in a finny pattern on the headband and glue fabric to it, then cut it out to make the curved spaces between the spines. Then I wired a broken old necklace to the front and glued sea shells to it and I was done!

The top was quite simple, just a halter top with lots of necklaces dangling off to look dramatic and like I swam through some necklace sea weed and they got stuck. The last thing I made were these hand fins. I was so bummed that I left them home for “Atlantis” because I was supposed to look like an evil sea creature Minus those I looked nice and pretty!! It was very late when I made these so they aren’t the best thing I’ve ever made. I would like to revisit this concept and make some really cool fins where the glove goes up to my elbow.

I hope you enjoyed looking! Here are a few more pictures of the costume in action!

Me at No Tomorrow! I just flopped around on a pool table most of the event acting all fishy BTW My makeup took about 2 hours to do! Eek!! Maybe not the best idea since the club was so dark (Pics by Brianna K. Lord, thanks!)

This is my day after makeup photo shoot That stuff was on GOOD!!! Tip: Eyelash glue on glitter. Lasts a long time and looks awesome. Very Very difficult to remove, though!

And lastly some photos of me and Madelaine at Dr. Sketchy’s Warning: pasties are involved so if you have delicate sensibilities or are one of my relatives you may want to skip over the last few

Aliza, Madelaine and me looking cute during one of the prize give aways.

Hold very still. 20 minute poses are hard!

Serious mermaids are serious.

Madelaine is so cute!

Drawing contest! There were some really amazing drawings made!

Caught Madelaine in my net, win!

Thanks for reading!!

xo Tess Aquarium

*****Aliza Shapiro who runs Truth Serum productions and does AMAZING work for the community here in Boston recently had a brain hemorrhage! Folks have organized a fundraiser to help her with her medical expenses as she has no insurance. If you feel like donating, even a small amount, you can do so here: http://alizabraintrust.org/

Posted in Costumes, Modelling, Portfolio, Projects | 4 Comments

Zoom zoom!

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Miss Tess

I hate to neglect my blog but things are totally nutso right now! After wrapping Project Runway (omg can’t wait to post about it!!!) I got back to Boston and rested a bit, then dived right back into work. Today I’m going on 13 hours which is really quite reasonable after a 20 hour day on Friday (with a 5 am call time, oh geez!). I am leaving for Vermont Wednesday am Firefly, which is a small art festival. I’m going to give away 100 light up tutu’s, among other things. Fun!! So much work to do.

I have a few pictures from a photo shoot I did way back in march with Teressa of Art and Discord. We totally clicked and had an awesome time walking around MIT’s campus snapping photos and astonishing a huge group of Chinese tourists who all want to take pics with me one by one
Anyway, onto the photos! All by Art and Discord. Modeled and styled by me!

Thanks for looking! I had so much fun on this shoot!

xo Tess Aquarium

Posted in Costumes, Good Lookin', Modelling, Projects | 2 Comments

Big News: Project Runway!

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Miss Tess

Hey guys! I have some super duper big news, check out this Press Release:

Big News!

On this season of Project Runway they must fill a tall order! Project Runway will create hand-crafted couture for amazing stiltressess Ali Luminescent, Anya, Claire de Luxe, Tess Aquarium, Airin Dalton, Tara McMannus, and Kathryn Van Assche. We will be gracing the PROJECT RUNWAYs first ever outdoor public fashion show at 9am Friday morning at Esplanade Plaza@Battery Park City (cross st Liberty st and South end). Standing Room Only.

This show is open to the public and you are welcome to attend.

See you there!!

xo Ali Luminescent

Amazing, right????? So if you are in NYC come and see the amazing creations the designers are making!

xo Tess Aquarium

(PS add my fan page on Facebook!

Posted in News | 5 Comments

Stunning in Silver: Custom Costumes for Vadalna

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Miss Tess

Time to do a little show and tell. A few months ago I wrapped up some custom costumes for Vadalna, a Tribal Fusion belly dancing troupe here in Boston. The concept was to create something that gave a little nod to classic 40′s glamor, but with a belly dancing twist. I had a few meetings with Naraya to figure out what they needed to be doing in these outfits and what they were looking for.

This was my first time making stuff for belly dancers so I did lots of research! I’ve learned a tiny bit about belly dancing in a class with Claire at Burning Man so I knew a little bit about what needed to happen. These outfits were definitely a collaboration, I created the skirt, arm bands, belts and hats and the dancers made their tops and added all the BLING to them. I think these outfits came out beautifully, the silver fabric is so drapey and amazing in person. I’ve had a lot of comments on the skirts so keep your eyes peeled for a tutorial on how to make your own!

All photos taken by Pixie Vision Productions who is totally amazing and I’m bummed I didn’t schedule a shoot with her when she was in town.