The hand always goes in the backpack

These days are really full, somehow I'm keeping creating without a stop, even if still in a too confused way, many projects are starting and I'm trying to let collaborate my fuckin' inspiration with a kind of method. Despite that, meanwhile, I enjoyed some nights here in Utrecht. And even when I say to myself to just living the surrounding, every time my hand goes to pick up my sketchbook, or my camera.

This first sketch is from a presentation at ACU, the 11th of March. It's a very good project that I'd like to let you check out: Drawing Freedom shows drawings made by the refugee children of Syria and the reaction made by some Dutch artist. In my sketch you can see (or, well, just imagine) the children drawings on the right wall. On the left wall there are the photographs made by these two guys, the journalists that were there. In the photographs, I tried to sketch the women that they met, that are trying to fight, even if it is not allowed to them by the Muslim rules. As you can understand, this hot topic could bring several comments. Well, I appreciated really a lot that the journalists just put their energy to communicate what they saw, without too many opinions about – and with a lot of honesty.

Follow the project, folks, because it should grow and you could have new exhibition and appointment around in Nederland.

These second images are from some nights ago at Cafe Averechts, the hidden special cafe in Utrecht where many musicians and couch surfer often go, creating a very special and warm atmosphere. You can easily find an open podium, there.

(Sorry for the soul theft, man, but I'm sure you have at least a half-dozen bonus souls somewhere…)

I didn't finished this sketch, I started during their last song, so I made it in about three minutes… By the way, hey, everybody wanna know how much time I need to draw a certain stuff (many guys asked for it that night): that's a good reason to write now that the 23th of March I'll be at EKKO, they invited me to draw live all the night long. Come over and see what I'm gonna plan for it!

Sandra

Rock'n'roll!

tripmaitrop-etanonstop

Enda's home

The personal spaces are definitely one of my favourite territory, in photography.

This is the home of Andrea Riboni, aka Enda, in Cremona.

Thank you for letting me in.               #

"Cut the Line" is coming soon!

Some months ago, going through what they call "New Weird America", this kind of psych folk that I love to explore so much, once I found a lovely new yorker singerwriter, Heidi Harris, and I was glad to listen to her music like it is when you got a little discovery that for you it's so precious. You imagine that you're a collector of shells and you just stumbled in a very particular and rare one, thinking that you must be very lucky finding such a treasure that fits so well your mind… With these emotions, I seen that, somehow, through some social networks, she found me as well, probably scrolling her listeners, but the point was that after a while she shown many feelings for my art too. That's how we started to see how far was our reciprocal sensation that a magic connection was happening between our creative worlds. Exactly like the birth of a love, my creatures recognised themselves in her creatures. Obviously, an artistic collaboration seemed immediately necessary. So, as first step, now one of my illustration is the front cover of her new album, Cut the Line, that now is almost ready with her Canadian label, Inner Ocean Records.

When she told that this drawing of mine was the one that in the end conquered her, I was really surprised. At first because it's basically a self portrait and I felt a bit shy to be there, on her cover, with those my sentences included too (a rare extra text for any cover album, I guess). But above all I was surprised because that illustration is actually one of my favourites too, born just from my inspiration, but, "unfortunately", never used for anything. Now this work has its way and I'm pleased of it, still loving its charme, but also finally feeling really far from that moment (more then one year ago): now I don't have to try to be quiet – and if I look into my seascapes, after all… I go invaded from an orgy of happiness. But that's another story. That you will maybe enjoy in the second step of our collaboration –so, folks, stay tuned, as they say!

The Circle

«It's a flower born to die, don't worry if it does soon.   :)   »

Those were the light words that came with a delicate Orange Flower, the past Summer.

It did it, the gentle Orange Flower died soon (but not so soon).

It had been also an unexpected rebirth, during the early Autumn; its tender willpower was moving.

After a while, it took its right Death for good, but I didn't moved it from my shelter.

During those frozen days in which we were ice skating on the canal, the pot shown its new surprising new Oracular Spectacular beauty.

Now it's again on my backyard, drinking the new sunshine. I'm not waiting for another flower, but the Springtime is already back, incredibly hot, in this loved half-nordic land called The Netherlands. And that Orange is the good one.

I have been all the seasons.

If the flowers won't come out to say *hi, I am a flower and I belong to a gorgeous harmony* to the new year, the pot will have a special role, somehow, in Art.

Proost, to who have the consciousness to say simply the simpler          .

Don't stop to keep high your hopes and feel the Circle.

Do you feel it?

(If you don't, start trying to listen to Planet Gong and Daevid Allen.

The World is full of good energies. It is. I'm sure about it. So sure!)

A pair of cool musical gigs (with my lines between too)

In the next days, in Cremona there are a pair of concerts with the flyer made by McA, that asked me an illustration to both of them.

The first one was drawn one year ago (it's a long story…) and it's a portrait of Bob Corn, the singerwriter that will play at Arci the 17th of February e, dato che magari il mio blog lo legge anche gente che è nei paraggi: andatelo a vedere, figlioli, specie te, Sonica, che ci metti un attimo e ti piacerà assai.

I have to say that I really like the graphic design of the flyer, but I'm not satisfied at all of my portrait. Too bad…

The second concert is a Cremonapalloza Supports night, the 30th of March at C.S.A. Dordoni, with Jonathan Grass, Koen and Vulcano; my illustration was made some years ago (indeed you could recognize it, maybe) and instead I fuckin' love this simply drawing, so I'm glad that it can take a new life.

Ah, just to defend myself from the reasonable critique of laziness: McA in himself asked me to find something ready, last minute, I'm not shameless starting to recycle my artworks. Emhhh… but talking about old works, actually, going through my folders for that purpose, I stumbled in a sketch of one year ago that I never had published and it's a weird double self-portait that tells a lot about the changement of my last seasons. It was mainly from me to me, without taking care about the general usability of the sketch; indeed, almost nobody can understand that I was the girl to the left but the other one too, in my version 12 years old. It's about the crisis that brought me far from my responsability on ethic questions: a kind of curious story, because, instead, when I was younger I was really involved in these topics.

But now I feel so lighter if I look to this drawing and back to those months, because I feel this gorgeous sensation that every piece of me is now in harmony in one complete creature, with hopes again, even  more then before.

Enjoy (music, people and multiverse)

And thanks again, McA, I always love collaborate with y♥u!