whooo...

i am beat! i mean BEAT! i slept and slept and slept and didn't manage to drag my silly self out of bed today until 9 o'clock. yikes! that's like... 4 hours behind schedule! oops. looks like The Jog will have to wait until this afternoon. by the time i'm done drinking coffee it'll be much too hot for the little girl to spend a solid hour running and hiking around in the blaze of the sun. i do not want to stroke out my little dog. so in the mean time, painting will be the order of the day. my usual. :)

yesterday, i spent the day in the city and it was absolutely wonderful. WONDERFUL! i met the lovely mina dresden (highlight of my day, week, month!) and the show she's got up right now, Jet Lag, is stunning. if you like work with a solid conceptual core, you'll love this show. the work is just beautiful!

after that, i dropped Lineage 2 off at the gallery and joked around with all my buddies over there. it's always such a great time at HANG. it really is. everybody who works there is super cool and not bourgie in the least and loves to talk as much as i do... well, almost as much as i do. i wake up talking, so... i'm a bit hard to beat when it comes to that sort of thing. :)

and then after that, i went over to the Studio Gallery to pick up some old work of mine and talk with jen and rab. they are such sweethearts. so positive and happy and light-hearted. it's always fun stopping in to talk with them for a bit and see all the new work on the walls.

i had an awesome day. awesome. and by 9 o'clock last night i was completely wiped out and heading to bed. i slept a solid 12 hours. dang! super dang! guess i needed the rest, huh! ha!

anyway, my maids need some attention. it's sunny and bright and a good day for working outside. i like working outside in the beautiful natural light and people stopping by to check out what i'm doing and my dog sniffing around and a glass of wine from the neighbor during break time.

done! finally!

Lineage 2 (Hush)
48" x 36"
oil on canvas
angela simione, 2009

in progress...

yesterday...


today...



and the day's still young.

---

i haven't eaten a thing yet. inside and out, it's been oil as sustenance: coffee, paint, coffee, paint. i'm finally heating up some soup to steady my hands and comfort my stomach. this close to the finish line but still so far from satisfaction. i lose myself in the paint. my eyes hunt the details, the shadows, the folds of the dress for any small mishap or overlooked moment that needs to be defined, lulled out of it's dark corner, caressed in to being, begged at and fought for and loved beyond compare.

this is one of three canvasses i took outside to work on in clear light. neighbors, construction workers, unknown men came by and looked, watched. they loved the fact there are no faces. they stared and smiled and said "good job, kiddo!" i'll eat my soup and head back. days like this are days you don't quit. eating is secondary. cleaning is irrelevant. sleep seems stupid and erroneous. days like this you don't let up- you pull the sails taught.

yay!

i'm off to spend the day making work for the san jose institute of contemporary art's mono print marathon! :)

i can't wait to be in a print shop again. it's been about a year and a half since i've had access to a press and i am itching to get to work. i'm bringing my camera with me... here's to hoping i remember to snap some pictures while i'm there.

sisters...

i've been saving a big stack of drawings and mixed media work that i had cut down in to small, irregular squares just waiting for a bright idea to come along. but more and more, the idea of storing stuff for some far-off rainy day that might not ever show up has got me not only in the mood to start letting go of the unused items in my life but, also, to start putting some of these little gems to good use. so the other night, i got the big stack out and noticed that a ton of them function beautifully as formal abstractions in their own right and a boat-load more of little pieces that seemed ideal as a backdrop for something more realistic- environments with potential. i decided to just play and see where i'd end up.


sisters
7 1/4" x 7 1/4" (irregular)
mixed media on paper
angela simione, 2009

this is the third time i've used this image and the more i use it the more i love it. it helps me revisit my own childhood, my sister's and my past, being alone together so often and finding ways to get by, play, feel happy, and scrape something together that could resemble dinner. i feel so close to this image and this won't be the last time i use it. not even close.


sisters detail

available at black fence.

ha!

yesterday, i painted outside - such a lovely, bright morning - and got the next Siblings.Shadows. painting well under way. unfortunately, i now have 30 mosquito bites. i itch all over and the bites are humongous welts. i've even got 5 across my forehead! those damned blood-suckers love me. i need to buy some bug-off. sometimes, nature sucks.

hello monday!

ah.... what a great weekend. wonderful.
saturday we spent more money than we planned at the art supply store on canvas, stretcher bars, and paint but the deals were just too good to pass up. on the way home, we took the long way and pit-stopped for cheese steak sandwiches with garlic and everything else crammed inside. by the time we made it back to our humble home, we were completely worn out from the sun and shopping and food but somehow found the energy to go drink wine with the neighbor (of course).

sunday, my sweetie stretched all the new canvas and i gessoed them- assembly line style. i've got 5 huge and beautiful canvasses purring for attention now and i can't wait to jump in to the studio today. my mind is spinning with ideas.

also, one of the resumes i sent out landed me an interview. quick! it's tomorrow afternoon and i am so excited! i'd love to have this job. more about that later if i get it. keep your fingers crossed for me!

i feel happy and brave... like the world is opening up again... or maybe it's me that's more open? whichever, however, i feel tough and ready and full of giggles. inga and i have even been jogging in the morning. she bounces along at my side and we take full advantage of having a huge vineyard all to ourselves. she's going in to heat though which means my sweet little girl will soon make the change to horrible bitch... and it lasts for a solid month. i'm going to have to get over my fear of inflicting surgery on her. i know there's a ton of good things that come along with fixing your dog but i just can't stand the idea of forcing a hysterectomy on her. i just can't. i know it's the responsible thing to do, it just breaks my heart to have to do this to her. she's so little and playful... i'm afraid how it'll alter her personality. everyone says that it really calms them down. i love inga just the way she is.

WOW!

wow. wow. wow.

all i can say is WOW!

i got invited to participate in the San Jose Institute for Contemporary Art's Mono-Marathon today! oh-my-lord! someone up there is definitely smiling down on me. what a huge honor. WOW!
AND, as if that wasn't good enough, my sweet ladies sold at AAF in New York yesterday. whoever you are, thank you so much! it's one of my favorite works and i adore it. you've encouraged me to keep at it and make this series shine as hard and bright as it possibly can. thank you for giving them a new home. :)

i am floating....

done!

Sunday 3 (Sheep in Fog)
30" x 40"
oil on canvas
angela simione, 2009

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.

YAY!!!

oh, i had such a wonderful time yesterday! i got to the gallery a few hours early to mingle, drink wine, take my time getting comfortable and set up, and hopefully fight over some art. i walked away with a jessica niello for myself and an eric jacobsen for my sweetie. yay! both of which are completely gorgeous and are excellent editions to our budding art collection. and most importantly, both artists are serious, are wonderful with their craft, and make images that pull on my heart-strings. i also got to do an amazing art swap with mr. piero spadaro yesterday (wow!) and am busy re-arranging the art on my walls to make it the center of attention. thank you piero! :)

i took pictures but for some odd reason, my computer isn't letting me upload them. boooooo! maybe i need to re-install the program... which means i've got to track down the disk. :( i'll get around to that later and will post some pictures as soon as i get my technical difficulties worked out.

and in other wonderful, unexpected, and completely awe-striking news: my gallery is taking "Lineage" with them next month to the art fair in New York! YAY! it shipped out yesterday and i couldn't be more thrilled about my maids meeting a new audience. astounding! and i am endlessly grateful. my gallery is, and always has been, so supportive of the work i do and this is such an unexpected display of that support that i am left feeling completely honored. thank you so so so much, guys! thank you!

i keep forgetting to mention...

tomorrow, there's a huge drawing event at my gallery. a whole bunch of us artists will be on-site with our paper and pencils and whatever else we feel like making marks with, and everything we come up with will be priced firmly at 50 bucks a shot. super cheap! i'm definitely planning on beefing up my art collection tomorrow in addition to making some creepy, pretty things of my own. if you're in the bay area, stop on it, bring a friend, help us drink the wine, and crack some jokes too. we'd love to see you! my drawing time is the last round from 3 - 5pm but i'll be hanging out the whole time. we start at 1pm. see you there!

lineage...

got up at 5:20 this morning and was in the studio working by 6:30. the day is off to a wonderful, happy, exciting start and here's why:


lineage
44" x 38"
oil on canvas
angela simione, 2009

she's done! YAY! she's so damn pretty! excuse me while i toot my own tarnished horn but, i love this painting! love, love, LOVE! i'm going to spend the rest of the morning sipping coffee and staring at this canvas.

when i started it - always thinking of anonymity and loss, ya know - i thought about my own history... the history of all the women in my family, really... and realized that "cleaning women" are pretty much invisible. they have no voice, no real power... at least not when they're on the job. i've worked as a maid before. very few of the people whose homes i cleaned even looked at me, let alone spoke to me. you are required to be silent, a ghost moving unseen and unheard through the house... and don't make the client uncomfortable by highlighting your humanity at all...

this painting is made to honor such a lineage- a long, undocumented, "uncomfortable" history that isn't spoken of, the women who handle the messes, who have a relationship with dirt... it isn't polite to speak of such things.

the banner project moves forward...

detail

i started this project during my senior year in college when i slipped one of the disks in my back (twice) and was laid up, flat on my back, for a solid month: no walking, no painting, nothing. but, in my prescribed vicodan stupor, i was more than able to lay back on the couch and twist yarn.

everybody at school loved these and, though i think of them as banners to be hung on the wall (big ol' L.E.D. signs), a great many people ohhed and ahhed at the prospect of wearing them. i'm still not sure how i feel about that... i mean, these guys take an awfully long time to make.

anyway, a few weeks back when i was getting completely depressed by the onslaught of dreary, grey, rainy, winter days, i picked the project back up. i had been reading sylvia plath's Ariel, again (HA!), and was totally taken in by the last line of her poem Sheep in Fog:

"Starless and fatherless, a dark water."

yes, yes, yes... that's me too.

i had originally planned to embroider the entire sentence on the banner but i got stuck on that word 'fatherless'. such an odd word, rarely heard, and entirely, intensely sad. autobiographical in more ways than one...



fatherless
6" x 74"
crochet
angela simione, 2009


it's realized in the bastard stitch, my favorite stitch, also known as the afghan stitch- a cross between crocheting and knitting- and another fine level of conceptualism. :) the reverse is completely backed so that the beauty of the stitch itself can be fully appreciated and adored. my sweetie thinks i should sell these but i honestly have no clue what i'd even charge for something like this. it takes a super diligent week and a half to make just one.

p.s. that's my big, green backyard. :)

crowded...

just passed 7:30 in the morning and i've already slapped enough paint down to make moving forward with any my canvasses fairly impossible. they're all just too wet to be worked any further. bummer. i'm really in the mood to paint but i'm running out of space and don't necessarily want to begin a new painting just yet. although... maybe i should just roll with it. the frenzied, GO GO GO painting mode should always be exploited. and i can tolerate being cramped by art. worse things have happened. besides, my house is generally overrun by artwork and artmess. nothing new there.

yesterday, i took some time out to go poke around in an uncharted antique shop and my hot little hands wanted to bring so many half-broken and unusable wonders home with me! a huge, beautiful, folk, table top vanity, big dusty trunks with busted hinges, victorian photos, old-fashioned wash basins... i am a greedy, greedy girl when it comes to stuff like that. antiques shops and junk shops are dangerous places for a girl like me. i want to give a home to all the busted and broken objects of the world. my home is a strange orphanage, i'll tell ya. but until i clear out some more of the stuff that has been following me around the last few years, i can't allow myself to bring anything else in the door. i found a consignment store to take some stuff but just haven't found the motivation to do it yet. been too busy and in love with painting to allow for any distraction- even the good, helpful, practical kind. could this be the reason why artists generally end up divorced? not allowing themselves to be troubled by practical matters? :) i'm sure it's one of the reasons. ha!

somewhere around 4am and after more coffee than i should've allowed myself...

lineage study
15" x 11"
graphite and erasure on paper
angela simione
2009

a study of the painting i'm working on... you know, the one i keep talking about. :)

brewing...

just about 1 in the morning... a pot of coffee brewing and a whole bunch of ideas swirling in my head. i think it's safe to say my health has returned. enough at least to dive back in to my beloved night-owling. i missed my nights of smudging graphite and spilling ink and smearing oil. what's not to love about an art studio? room of one's own, indeed! and i am thankful every day to have it. just sitting in my own space surrounded by my own tools and my own books and my own stupid little nic-naks feels great and precious and miraculous even. and above all else, it is safe. a protected space where i am king. i can do what i want and there's no apologies necessary. it's been a big help the last couple days while i've struggled to get over this sickness and start doing some more hard-hitting, risky work. the drawing i posted last was fairly difficult even though i've had the idea to do it for quite some time. it's hard work to do... to literally tape a small child's mouth shut is no easy task even if it is "just" a drawing...

there have been plenty of images that i feel a bit damaged by, haunted by, sickened by... and i'm not just talking about art. there have been tons of advertisements that have offended me to such a deep degree that sometimes it's taken quite a bit of work (and time) on my part to shake it off and get back to my own life. images have power. and images can do violence. in the case of this last drawing, the role was reversed and i did violence to the image. i spent some time drawing a lovely, academic rendering and then pulled out a roll of duct tape and destroyed it. i shut it up. i made it a victim. not an easy thing to do to the image of a someone who died a horribly violent death. not easy at all and i still feel a bit fucked up by the experience. i wanted to highlight the loss of HER. she was silenced in such a hateful, violent, unspeakable way that i guess that's what i wanted to get at... somehow... the unspeakable loss of her... the quick violence done to something cherished and beautiful and admired... silenced... undone... without all the drama and media frenzy and judgemental spectacle, the sensationalism... just the loss of a child, a daughter... and what a horror it is.

hanging in there...

my prayers for a bit of sunshine were answered! me and inga have already gone for a hike and the fresh air definitely did me some good. my spirit is starting to lighten and i think i've met with the worst of my sickness. i'm on the upswing and feeling ready to dive back in to my work. i put quite a few art pieces on sale in the shop today. i need to make room for a few things i've got in the works and scale back on the type of items i'm going to offer. and i need to make more room for myself. i am getting over-run by my projects at this point and need to find good homes for all my little babies... and i can only pile so much work on my mama for safe keeping.

survey says...

bronchitis. yick. i suffered from chronic bronchitis as a child and all the way through my teenage years. once a year, i'd be laid up for a minimum of a week due to this damn thing but i haven't had this bad a battle with it in at least 5 years. i'm at war right now guys and am only resurfacing from my self-induced NyQuil coma long enough to write this blog, take a shower, and snuggle with inga for a bit. for the past two days i've only managed to stay awake for about three hours at a stretch, sleep for four, wake up and drink more medicine and crash back out once the delirium takes hold. bear with me if i'm not making much sense right or if my grammar takes a trip to bizarro land.

in spite of this health horror, i have managed to get a bit of drawing done while i wait for enough sanity to work on the big painting:


missing (1)
7 1/2" x 5 1/2"
water-soluble graphite and gesso on paper
2009


missing (2)
water-soluble graphite, gouache, and gesso on paper
2009


together on my paint covered desk...


...they fill me with a strange happiness whenever i look at them. i stand at stare at them while i drink my morning coffee... a brew i should be avoiding right now but hey, i rarely make decisions based on shoulds. quite a few of my influences are evident in these two little darlings - Ellen Gallagher and the photographer Laurent Askienazy are probably the two most obvious. i'm always happy to see a touch of those whom i admire cropping up in my work. it makes me feel like i finally have a lineage to cling to, to call upon, to learn.

proof... (in progress...)

i haven't posted a picture of work in what feels like an extremely long time. i talk and talk and talk about painting but where's the work, right? walk the talk, art jerk! here you go...


(untitled for now because i think it needs more work maybe, possibly, probably)
15" x 11"
graphite, erasure, and acrylic on paper
2009

back on the anonymity trip (as if i ever got off) and am very happy with the results. i'm definitely going to keep working on this one and do a few more drawings like this in order to experiment further with redaction techniques. i bought a roll of black duck tape today to see how that would read rather than the painted stripe across the eyes... plus, duck tape connotes violence and that's pretty much what i'm trying to get at: forced anonymity, robbed identities, stolen lives, victimization, murder... bad stuff.