Spa Day at Outstages Cafe Spa

My work is an exploration of the "ambiguous place between reality and illusion," where digital environments and organic textures merge to create a new, hybrid form of storytelling. I operate at the intersection of technology and tradition, using modern digital tools to amplify the "ancestral echoes" of those who came before me.

At the heart of my practice is the "Calm River" philosophy, the belief that art should function as a restorative space, a "spa for the soul" where time slows down and the mind remembers spaciousness. Whether through the gritty, sovereign energy of a Delta Blues riff or the ethereal, weightless hum of a cinematic soundscape, my goal is to provide a "sensory bridge" between the fast-paced digital world and a state of perceptual stillness.

My process is deeply experimental and fluid. I view digital technology not as a barrier to authenticity, but as a "prism through which light is refracted" a way to layer meaning, memory, and melody into a single, resonant experience. By merging visual dreamscapes of floating islands and blue birds with high-fidelity audio, I invite the viewer to "look inward and outward at the same time," finding reconciliation in the fragments of our eclectic modern lives.

My work is a "restoration of order". It is a celebration of "melanin majesty," creative sovereignty, and the enduring power of a song that keeps rewriting itself in colors I have not yet told.

The Pulse That Would Not Dim

I woke with a hum in my ribs,

a little back alley rhythm knocking on bone,

saying get up, girl the night left you a message.

Coffee steaming like a streetlamp halo,

keyboard waiting like an old friend

who knows every version of my voice.

I’ve got a pulse that wouldn’t dim,

a flame that wouldn’t fold,

a song that keeps rewriting me

in colors I haven’t told.

I play it low, I play it true

the blues come home, and I come through.

There’s a ghost note in the corner

where the past used to sit heavy,

but tonight it’s just watching,

quiet, respectful, finally learning

I don’t break the way I used to.

I bend.

I tune.

I rise.

Every woman who ever held a melody

is standing behind me now

Janis with her gravel fire,

my younger self with her tiny blues piano hands,

and the ancestors humming in the rafters

like they have been waiting for this exact chord.

I’ve got a pulse that wouldn’t dim,

a truth that wouldn’t hide,

a song that keeps on walking with me

like a sister at my side.

I play it raw, I play it real

the blues return, and I can feel.

Arrival

You step into the Spa Suite like you are crossing a soft threshold between worlds.

The air carries a warm hush part candlelight, part blues hum, part ancestral exhale.

Nothing rushes here.

Even time loosens its shoulders.

The Atmosphere

Every corner glow with quiet intention:

steam drifting like a blessing,

linen folded like a promise,

and the faint scent of citrus and cedarwood

curling around you like a gentle arm.

This is where the body remembers softness

and the mind remembers spaciousness.

The Ritual

A warm towel greets your hands,

a small ceremony of welcome.

You breathe in, and the room breathes with you

a slow, sovereign rhythm

that asks nothing

and gives everything.

Here, even silence has texture.

Even stillness has music.

The Treatment

Your chair becomes a throne.

Your robe becomes a cloud.

Your heartbeat settles into a blues tempo

as the Spa Suite tends to you

like an old friend who knows

exactly what you’ve carried

and exactly what you’re ready to release.

The Outstages Touch

This isn’t a spa that erases you.

It’s a spa that returns you to yourself.

Every sound, every scent, every warm touch

is part of the Outstages lineage

a place where healing is art,

and art is healing.

The Departure

When you rise, you rise lighter.

Not because the world changed,

but because you did.

The Spa Suite sends you back

with a softened spine,

a clearer breath,

and a quiet glow that follows you

long after the door closes.

written, created, edited by

Vicki Lawana Trusselli

Trusselli Art

Outstages Cafe

CALIFORNIA

copyright 2026