New Rose Sleeve I did on myself!

1/23/15

This summer when I went to New York with my mother to check out NYU, I bought a multitude of affordable mass-produced henna tubes at an Indian food market nearby to the Carlton Arms Graffiti Hotel (an amazing establishment, definitely deserves a google,) It's quite a plain building on the outside but on the inside it is filled with art from the bathroom's mosaic to the front desk, and especially the rooms!

The front desk at the Ye Olde Carlton Arms Hotel

The outside of the Carlton Arms

Every floor was differently themed, and every room themed according to the artist that did them! I stayed in this room: The Billi Kid room, it was a bunch of gritty graffiti photos stacked on top of each other, super bold colored and outlined pop art pieces thrown in with their overall grunge-street theme. This guy Billi Kid really had his style down! 

I attempted my first sleeve sitting in this room, trying to do something that shouted that I created this art, and it's big and bold and you can't look at anything else! 

I was inspired by my room to achieve something I had never done before, try to attempt a sleeve on myself. I added not many vines or dimensions to the project, I included banners labeled Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Love, a mantra from one of my favorite movies: Moulin Rouge. 

I could tell that many other street artists had added their own little additions to the room in whatever free space was left. I decided to add my own flower in the closet because I didn't want to go over anyone else's work, or really have it seen by whoever owned the place. The Carlton Arms was moderately affordable for being located in Manhattan, I recommend it to anyone interested in seeing and staying a wonderful urban art feat and art landmark. Later that day I saw the broadway show Book of Mormon and discovered a cute affordable thrift store called AuH2O, meaning gold water, they took a picture of me and my purchases including my sleeve that day!

And now! (Drumroll please.....) My new and improved sleeve! (Click for a better view)

 This is as far as I got with the new sleeve I did! All roses, vines and leaves, I added a few more dimensional flowers then I did with the first sleeve I did. I researched different angles that roses are seen from - above and side views are all I got to that day.

 

One of the side view roses

This was the hardest area to do, I can't really see and work well on the back of my arm so I incorporate mirrors into the henna process to make reaching those areas possible. I got about mid-bicep height with the sleeve today - 1/23/15