the birthing of a new ritual...

i started my morning the way i always do- a pot of coffee and scribbling away in my journal. but rather than jump straight in to painting after that, me and inga went on a hike first thing. no one was really out and about yet so we had the entire acreage of the vineyard to ourselves. it was lovely, bright, and still chilly enough to wear a sweater. the birds were the only other life awake and in the huge silence of the woods that line the edge of the vineyard, sleepy mosquitoes buzzed lazily by without biting me even once.

when we got back to the house, i brewed a second pot of coffee and then sat on the front porch with the book i've been reading and finished it right away- letter to a child never born by oriana fallaci. without a doubt, one of the most intense things i've read... a document of sadness and loss in the extreme, "And before me stretch valleys of sadness where pride blooms in vain". beautiful... and i grieved with every printed word, every embarrassed confession, every hard judgement... a pleasure to begin a new day feeling wholly compassionate and sensitive toward the world, toward honest people- an honest blessing if ever there was one.

and then in the studio, i worked calmly and slowly for about 4 hours before deciding that i had had my fill of heavy seriousness and took a break to play with some lighter subject matter. the big gulp paintings rise again:




untitled (Angela's Backyard 4)
15" x 11"
gouache on paper
angela simione, 2009




untitled (Angela's Backyard 5)
15" x 11"
acrylic and gouache on paper
angela simione, 2009

the white in both of these little paintings is the white of untouched paper. the black is velvety, matte gouache, and in #5, the stripes and spills are defined with bronze and copper fluid acrylic. so much fun! and so worth the time it takes to harness a steady hand. :)

available at black fence.