Author: raffaellaperego

Friends

| raffaellaperego

I have read “the Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran several years ago. It was a gift from one of my best friends. I believe that he thought and wrote a really beautiful and inspiring book and still today every time I read a piece of it I feel peaceful and warm.
He wrote about a lot of issues, among which love, children, death, giving, laws, pleasure, beauty and much more.
I would like to light on this part, it matches completely with what i’m going to write in this post.
He wrote: “When you part from your friend, you grieve not; for that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain”.
During the Christmas holiday we were in Italy where we also celebrated my younger son’s baptism.
The time of the holiday was short and we dedicated most of our time to our families, but we tried the best also to meet with our best friends. Lunches, dinners, snacks …
the time together was amazing as always…. In a few minutes I deeply realized that love, over the distance and over an ocean, will always be true love.
Nothing changes in one year if the people truly love each other…of course our lives are changed by every experience, but the feeling to be part of your friend’s lives doesn’t change.
After I came back I started to paint a square canvas. I used gold and silver leaves as a background. After I finished I was looking at the canvas and I imagined faces on it.
Those were of my smiling and unique best friends. One by one I started painting their faces directly without any sketch. Just instinctively.
I put color on them, shapes and symbols.

And here is the result…. it’s a crazy, happy, colorful, heterogenous, lively, intense and warm canvas.

Friends…this is what you mean to me,

you are unforgettable ❤️!

Sketch
Completed painting
With a different light, from another view
Gold and silver leaves on the background
Friends’s faces
Friends’s faces

 

The magic power of the lake Michigan

| raffaellaperego

It’s Christmas time and here in Memphis the snow hasn’t showed yet. It’s cold but no snow, no ice on the road, no hat and gloves. In Wisconsin everything is different… and guess what…. I miss it!! I wrote this post since I would like to tell you something more about me and show you some connections between pictures of the Lake Michigan and the paintings I did when I lived there. I hope you will recognize the connections . Just a curiosity : Lake Michigan is the third largest Great Lake by surface area and the sixth largest freshwater lake in the world. The water surface area is 22,300 sq. miles/57,800 sq. km. It’s HUGE!!

I was very passionate about my Italian job as a restorer and decorator, every time I started a new project my adrenaline started to rush.  A new project means knowing new material surfaces, new cities, new collaborations and new experiences .

When we left that Christmas for our American adventure ( Milwaukee, Wisconsin) I temporarily closed my Italian business and it wasn’t easy at all. I was worried to lose what I have done in my life. Of course it wasn’t true but I was scared.
What motivated me? What gave me strength again?
One of the most special and most exciting and different things that I had ever experienced: the cold, the snow, the wind which takes away your breath and that frozen lake…they created a surreal moment that opened my eyes and heart looking for the emotional responses.
I found the passion there… .
Michigan lake, 24×48 enamel on mdf
the invisible city, 24×48 enamel on mdf
Winter in Winsconsin V, 24×48 enamel on mdf
Winter in Wisconsin II, 24×48 enamel on mdf
Winter in Winsconsin III, 24×48 enamel on mdf
Winter in Winsconsin IV, 24×48 enamel on mdf
Winter in Winsconsin I, 24×48 enamel on mdf
Chess inside,24×48 enamel on mdf

“My new heart”

| raffaellaperego

This is my very first post and I have to admit that I’ m a little anxious… but the story I will tell you is special,because there is something magical inside.

It’s about “My new heart“, one of my favorite paintings.

I lived in Milwaukee, lately it was a difficult time for me, really confusing… but this painting was born in one afternoon in June after I found out I  was pregnant with my second little boy. I was waiting for my second pregnancy for a long time without success.

Excitement, euphoria and in the end serenity. I was alone and I needed to tell how I felt to somebody. I ran to my studio and I painted… As always, the painting was the best listener.
In a multitude of colored space and lines My new red heart was the best character and it won. It was new, strong and humbling.

Then I posted the picture on facebook and a few weeks later I received a request from a woman who lives in Italy for buying “My new heart”. I was so proud of this painting that it affected someone so deeply who wanted to buy it.

I told her why I painted it, and she with confidence, told me that in the time between she saw the painting and she wrote me that she became pregnant also for the first time.

I like the idea that it wasn’t a coincidence, maybe in this painting there is something special, there is real love and a magical power. At least it was for two people.

Bye bye painting, being the best character on your new wall and bringing luck.