When Yelena Black first uttered the words ‘maternity shoot’ in my direction, I’ve been super-excited about working with Yelena to add our collective dark’n'edgy twist to a subject which is usually depicted in a very cutesy way. I think we did a good job and I was really happy when my phone beeped this morning with a text message announcing the arrival of new baby Christopher.

You can see lots more photos of Yelena and her bump on ViolentlyBeautiful.com, HERE.

February also saw my first shoot for awesome fashion designer and costume-creator extraordinaire, Helen Radford. Along with models Anna-Daisy and Fiona, we spent an evening full of giggles and many cups of tea shooting photos of lovely clothing which I now feel a compulsive urge to own. Especially the tiger corset and ears!

Another first was my recent shoot with Billie, owner of officially the best hair ever. Inspired by Brigitte Bardot, we took things in a much more mainstream and fashion-y direction than I usually go. It’s nice to sometimes do something different, even if my different is everyone else’s normal. Billie’s hair and make-up are by Starving Artists Creative Services.

I’ve been spending what little free time I’ve had recently hanging out over at Zivity. It’s fast becoming my second home on the net (after deviantART) and I have a heap of invitations to give away, so if you’re itching to check out a seriously delicious collection of artistic alt glam and modern pin-up from all over the world, drop me a line at Tanya@RockstarVanity.com and I’ll get you fixed up with an invite so you can join in the fun for 30 days, for free.

Also, if you’re not already a fan of Zivity’s Facebook page, get yourself over there and add yourself as a fan. There might be some cool new stuff happening over there soon…

The lovely ladies above are DeeDee Rouge, Lolitachick, Leeal and Miss Snowflake.

There’s a lot planned for the next few weeks including finalising issue 003 of Sublime Rush magazine and launching a kick-ass horror photography event to celebrate the opening of Fright Club on deviantART. And one of these days I’m going to close my computer and get to bed before 2am.

Also posted on: AltDiva, deviantART, Flickr, LiveJournal and MySpace
Buy prints from: deviantART and Fotki

and you, you bitch
with your prison guard keys
you followed me home
and you spat demands
in my face

and all i can think is
i am so out of focus
i am so out of focus

Also posted on: Flickr, deviantART, AltDiva and LiveJournal
Buy prints from: Fotki and deviantART

seventeen, i was
seventeen, when i met you
seventeen times you
broke my heart

seventeen dreams each
night, then i wake up always
and forever, still
seventeen

In case anyone has had a common sense bypass, the blood and gore effects in this are created with MAKE-UP and are NOT REAL. Obviously. If you want to make your own gory face, the materials used here are:

Texture on and around lips: Make-up International Liquid Latex
Nosebleed and blood on mouth and cheek: Kryolan Fresh Scratch Blood Effect
Skin tone and shading: Ben Nye Death Wheel
Blood in eye: Kryolan Eye Blood

Pablo the kitty.

Also posted on: deviantART, Flickr, MySpace, LiveJournal and AltDiva
Buy prints on: deviantART and Fotki

You talked me to sleep last night
I hadn’t felt that sad in years
Your eyes like glass mistakes
They moved me close to tears
You speak those favourite fables
Which I am yet to live
And casually confirm my fears
That I’ve got nothing to give

I take it back, all of it
Those names I called myself
The heros of my childhood
Like hardbacks on the shelf
I take it back, those promises

I wish I could say I’ve clung to time like gold
But as you said goodbye, I almost died

- from Nothing To Give by White Lies

Self-portrait.
Also posted on: Flickr, deviantART and LiveJournal
Buy prints from: Fotki and deviantART

To help publicise Remy’s situation and to find out how to contribute to his legal fund financially or simply offer him your support, please become a fan of his Facebook page and spread the word. To read the page in English, click on the Read More link at the bottom of the Personal Interests section.

I don’t want to talk about my personal feelings on the subject of criminalising art in an increasingly sterile global society because this would turn from a few paragraphs in a blog to a thousand page essay, but suffice to say Remy’s situation makes my blood boil.

Remy’s work can also be seen on deviantART and on his business website.

Spread the word through the wonder of online information sharing, social bookmarking and other such clicky things : Digg . StumbleUpon . Reddit

Models: AJ and Sasha
Make-up and styling: Starving Artists Creative Services
Direction: Lucie @ Starving Artists

Also posted on: deviantART, Flickr, MySpace, LiveJournal and AltDiva
See more on: ViolentlyBeautiful.com, Flickr and Fotki
Buy prints from: Fotki and deviantART

Model: Morrigan

Also posted on: deviantART, Flickr, AltDiva, LiveJournal and MySpace.
Buy prints from: Fotki and deviantART

The calendars are…

Beauty: Fashion and Expressive Portraiture
Lust: Fetish, Nude and Alt Glamour Photography
Fear: Atmospheric Bloodless Horror Photography
Evil: Graphic and Gory Horror Photography

That one involves super-cute heart-shaped pasties covered with rhinestones (from Ann Summers) and you can find it on Flickr and deviantART, and prints are available from Fotki and deviantART.

That one is a preview of a set we shot for Zivity, and you can find it on Flickr and deviantART, and buy prints from Fotki and deviantART. The Zivity set isn’t up yet but I’ll post here as soon as it goes live. In the meantime, if you’re on Zivity or are going to join, come find me and say hi. My username there is (surprisingly enough) RockstarVanity.

That one is a preview of the Morning Haze set, now viewable on ViolentlyBeautiful.com. You can get a print of that picture here, in Fotki. There’s a whole heap more alt glamour and modern pin-up prints in this folder on Fotki.

These tasty bits were also posted on AltDiva, LiveJournal and MySpace.

If you couldn’t make it to the chat, or are wondering what the hell all this deviantART business is about (go to deviantART.com and sign up NOW!), the chat log is posted HERE, in a slightly streamlined format to make it easier for you to get your teeth into.

Om nom nom.

Tastes like chicken.

Sublime Rush, the project which has been consuming my mind and my time lately, has FINALLY been released to the big wide world on the world wide web. In case you’ve missed my recent rambling on the subject, Sublime Rush is an independent arts, culture and entertainment magazine and the door is always open to fans, friends, creative content submissions and new readers.

From the website, SublimeRush.com, you can read the magazine online, register with the mailing list to get your hands on the mag before anyone else (plus see special subscriber-only content) and find out how to contribute YOUR work to future issues. You can also come and play at MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

Any and all help with pimping the project – mentions in blogs, links on MySpace profiles, page promoting on Facebook, tweeting on Twitter etc – in these early days is massively appreciated. I’ve submitted SublimeRush.com and this blog entry to the following social bookmarking sites where you can add your clicks and love to help introduce the magazine to even more new readers…

- SublimeRush.com on Digg
- Blog entry on Digg
- SublimeRush.com on Reddit
- Blog entry on Reddit
- You can also Stumble the website and blog entry, if Stumbling is your thing.

Big huge hugs and thanks to the people who made issue 001 awesome…AnaBelle, Keith Caputo, Paul at Coolworld Photography, Jeff Koromi, Joshua Hoffine, Leyla Rose, Susan McKivergan, Danielle McKay at deviantART, Kate White, Kristen Santel AKA Hannah Bel, Teari Vaughn S at Electric Jungle Studios and Unsigned Rock TV, Jo Vallance at Room Thirteen, The Resistance, Micropenis, Alex Kelly, Christer Eckermann AKA Ecker00, Trppl Johnson at ABRA Tribe, Theodore Mander at NeveaH Jewelry, Lorna Currie and Fourthletter.

The magazine has already had almost 20,000 unique pageviews since it went live two days ago and I am so beyond excited. Every time I think about it, I feel all bubbly and hyper. And yes, issue 002 is underway already!

Also posted at: LiveJournal, MySpace, AltDiva, deviantART news and my deviantART journal.

Lolitachick, Cherry Loco, Sasha de Buyl-Pisco and Lucie, styled by Starving Artists Creative Services with hair-falls and hair accessories by Miss Needles.

ViolentlyBeautiful.com photoset: Dreaming Through Dawn.
Flickr sets: Cherry Loco, Lolitachick, Lucie and Sasha.
deviantART submissions: Lolitachick, Lucie and Sasha.
deviantART prints: Lolitachick, Lucie and Sasha.
More prints in the Fashion & Model Prints album on Fotki.
Also posted on: MySpace, AltDiva and LiveJournal.

Ally, Bomb and Dagmar for Miss Needles.

ViolentlyBeautiful.com photosets: Tripping On Neon and Off Duty.
See more on Flickr and deviantART.
Buy prints on Fotki and deviantART.
Also posted on: AltDiva, LiveJournal and MySpace

Model: AJ
Accessories: Miss Needles

Also posted on: Flickr, MySpace, LiveJournal and AltDiva
See more on: Flickr, deviantART, Fotki and ViolentlyBeautiful.com
Buy prints on: Fotki and deviantART

Self-portrait.

Also posted on: Flickr, deviantART, MySpace, LiveJournal and AltDiva
Buy prints from: Fotki and deviantART

Self-portrait.

Also posted on: deviantART, Flickr, MySpace, Livejournal and AltDiva
Buy prints from: Fotki and deviantART

Self-portraits, created for the My Personal Nightmare horror photography art challenge which I’m hosting on deviantART.com

Also posted on: Flickr [here, here, here and here], deviantART [here, here, here, here and here], AltDiva, LiveJournal and ViolentlyBeautiful.com
Buy prints from: Fotki [here, here, here and here] and deviantART [here, here, here, here and here]

Model: Shai

Also posted on: Flickr, deviantART and MySpace
Buy prints from: Fotki and deviantART

Self-portrait.

Also posted on: Flickr, deviantART, MySpace, LiveJournal and AltDiva.
Buy prints from: Fotki and deviantART