going through photos...

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...i think it's time to make a zine.

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FML?

sometimes life decides for you that you need to slow down, stay in bed, and make some art.  under other circumstances, i'd be completely content to do just that but geez... now just isn't the right time.  a man lifted me up the other day and, as chance would have it, he happened to grab me right at the sight of an old injury: my iffy disk.  i've been locked in bed for the last 3 days.  i haven't been able to really walk let alone go to class or work.  and worst of all, i may have to cancel my trip to NY.  i'm trying not to get depressed about it.  getting depressed will only draw this whole thing out.  besides, i'm in enough pain as it is.  bulging disks are absolute agony.  thankfully, i'm in much better shape this time around than i was the first time this happened 6 years ago.  in fact, this injury is what turned me toward crochet as a way to make art.  i couldn't sit or stand.  all i could do was lie flat on my back.  that's not exactly a position from which one might draw or paint and, there i was, heading in to my last year of art school.  so much was on the line.  i had to find a way to keep making art.  crochet, it was!  it saved my degree and my practice.  it saved my spirit.  

and it'll save my spirit this time too.  i'm looking on the bright side and just trying to feel thankful for having the unplanned luxury of staying in bed all week and making art.  The Blanket of DOOM sure has benefited.  Almost done!!!!  a year in the making.  this project is an ERA unto itself!  :D

king size!!!!  and all rendered patiently in single stitch crochet.  good lord.

keeping me nice and warm as i convalesce. :)  can't wait to see and photograph the finished piece.

just a holy fool

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judas


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black graphite is delicious!

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untitled (no note)
15" x 16.5"
graphite on paper
2010

this is why rants and blogs are good:

i re-read the post below and realized i answered my own question: sit here and look at the work and shuffle it all around and see what narratives arise as a result. patience patience patience. curation is tough stuff. the worst thing i can do is rush and start forcing things together.

anyway, for all the writers in the room, here's a portrait for you. ;)




writer
15" x 12"
graphite on paper
angela simione, 2010

hear ye! hear ye!

well... the book idea seems to be a good one. but i need a new camera before i can make that happen. in the meantime, i'll start playing around with zines and stuff. it's so much fun! i've made a few for myself in the past and to hand out to friends... nothing too impressive, just playful and sweet and i'd like to get back in to that. i think it's actually a very important practice. it's a really wonderful thing to just get the work out in to the world and not worry so much about whether or not something is Perfect. it is a practice of bravery, for sure. maybe i'll start working on that today.

it's cold here this morning and i need some more coffee before anything else. i ran out of my delicious hazelnut cream yesterday and so i've been dumping brown sugar in my coffee this morning and it tastes like ASS. no good. time to put my jeans on and run down to the store. :/

in other news, i'm letting go some of the work i've been hoarding. i've spent most of the morning updating the shop. take a peak! and there's more on the way. here's a few of my favorite that are up right now at black fence.




Lineage
monoprint with hand painted elements
22" x 15"
angela simione, 2009



untitled
10" x 8"
gouache and graphite on paper
angela simione, 2010



untitled (silence)
5" x 3 1/2"
gouache and masking tape on paper
angela simione, 2010

collections...

seems i have an affinity for repetition. :) and dolls.





doll collection
30" x 22"
mixed media collage


falling apples, falling dolls
30" x 44" (diptych)
ink on paper


Anonymous Girls (4)
34" x 31"
ink on attached paper

my love. my beloved. for you. a testament.

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precious violin (for Louise Bourgeois)
15" x 11"
mixed media on paper



silver gouache and graphite. lovely. and after standing with her "spider" at SFMOMA last week, my heart opens with such gratitude for her work and to have come alive in an age where she was working. such ferocity and beauty. she is a force like no other.

drawing

untitled as of yet...

this monster is about 5 feet tall and actually backs you up when you want to look at it... very much like a snarling dog, like a pissed off mama. i am happy and full of fire.

the rampage continues.


untitled
58" x 50"
oil on canvas
angela simione, 2010


p.s. Richard Longo's influence shining through! :D

3 days

that's how long.

this is the quickest an oil painting has come to me in a very very VERY long time.



Alpha
42" x 35"
oil on canvas
angela simione, 2010
N.F.S.

for now, she rests safely in my private collection. this will not be the last time i render her likeness. not nearly. and so i must keep her and tend to her shadows. an angel on my living room wall. secure. whispering. loved.

the first painting of the new year...

The Good Daughter
30" x 22"
gouache on paper
angela simione, 2010

page by page...

in progress...
a new process...
teaching myself about poetry one slow, painted page at a time.






angela simione, 2009

the words are the white of the paper. it is patient work. it isn't perfect but the method makes me consider each line, each word on its own... it makes me dig in and sniff around and pay close attention to how words want to move...

words want to move like pages, like wings, like a burn.

loose teeth...

a little collection of Artist Trading Cards. these things are so much fun to make!
they are tiny! 3.5" x 2.5", the same size as a baseball card. totally cute!

available at black fence.

pretty...

i've started playing around with book-making again. it's something i absolutely love but fell off the wagon with due to an asshole professor who gave me a bad grade just because she didn't like me. in fact, she made it pretty clear that that was exactly the reason why i didn't get an A. guess it's my fault since i'm the one who made the mistake of asking why i got the grade i got, right? no matter, i got that crap removed from my transcript anyhow- fall through units. ha!

anyway, i've felt bad for a really long time that i let one of the worlds' jerks ruin something i value and really enjoy doing so i've been playing around with the form, just sort of diving right in and seeing where i go. no plan, no safety net, no eraser. the one of a kind artist book is something i've always been so drawn to. they are gorgeous and special and so totally romantic. and i'm a big fan of romance.

this is what i did today. just getting my feet wet:












and that's gouache on every single page! i spent a ton of time waiting for paint to dry today. tons! you'd think i'd be use to that but NO. so i got some laundry done today too on the in between time.


text:
such a pretty girl
robbed of her bell

angela simione, 2009

what is painting?

i suppose it all comes down to how one defines it. it's much more than merely applying paint to a surface. much, much more. if it weren't, it'd be no different than re-painting your bathroom walls or your car or any old thing. there's something else, something more, something hard to pin down and hold still about painting that really doesn't have much to do with paint.

but whatever it is, it's something i try to do every single day.

i swayed back and forth between two big oil paintings for the better part of the day, played with my inks for a bit, read a few poems out of Sharon Olds' 'the gold cell', wrote and researched and wrote some more and then made this-


mama (7)
11" x 7.5"
water-soluble graphite and gouache on paper
angela simione, 2009


number 7 in this series. rolling along pleasantly. :) these little paintings make me happy and fill me up with hope. they feel like day-dreams to me... little gems.

ahhhhh...

another wonderful weekend. crochet, poetry, and chardonnay. :) and splashing around in my lovely black gouache-



mama (3)


mama (4)


mama (5)

all works:
11" x 7.5"
water-soluble graphite and gouache on paper
angela simione, 2009

on a roll...

3 more little apron paintings in the bag, a ton of work on the next maid portraits (soon. very, very soon), and these:



this is one of the mono prints i made for the SJICA last month. i'd spent hours working on the very first one and, after pulling that print and a few ghosts, i painted back in to the original plate with sepia and black ink to get this piece.




and this is one of the ghost prints, touched up with a bit of black gouache. yum.

both pieces:
untitled
22" x 15"
mono print
angela simione, 2009


the top piece is available now at black fence.

while i should've been sleeping...

last night after drinking way too much coffee at way too late an hour, i made these. i'm glad for the bad caffeine decision.


mama (1)
11" x 7.5"
water-soluble graphite and gouache on paper
angela simione, 2009


mama (2)
11" x 7.5"
water-soluble graphite and gouache on paper
angela simione, 2009

two more!

both works - untitled
11" x 7.5"
water-soluble graphite, gouache, and masking tape on paper
angela simione, 2009

trying to make the best out of the heat wave. hopefully tomorrow we'll get a bit of a break and i can get back to painting outside for more than just an hour a day. it's been nice to have a couple days just to look at the canvasses while i work on other things but i don't want to lose my quick pace. these little works are great though and i think it'll just be a little side-project of mine... 20 portraits is what i'm shooting for. dang! 20 GOOD portraits... we'll see!