Buon Giorno!

After a year and a half of paperwork, research, historical archives, meetings with the Italian Consulate, purchasing extended family members birth, marriage and death certificates, apostilles, notaries, exemplifications, and translations…yesterday, Jan 25th 2012 (our middle daughters 22nd birthday), I received my paperwork that I have been recognized as an Italian Citizen in the town of Bisceglie where my Great Great Great Grandfather Mauro Zingarelli and my Great Great Grandfather Donato Zingarelli and my Great Grandfather Antonio Zingarelli were all born. My birth certificate, my divorces and my marriages(I have had three) are also now registered there. However unimportant, my name is now written beside the story of our Italian ancestors.

For as long as I can remember, I was raised appreciating Italian culture and food. My dear Gram (who was Italian only by marriage to my most handsome grandfather Charles Zingarelli) had Italian flags, canisters of pasta, figs with almonds or walnuts, red and orange biscotti cans, amaretto, anisette, and everything breathing red green and white in her living room. They made homemade red wine and Italian sausage in their garage. We ate, we laughed, we talked loud, we hugged, we drank, we ate more…The pulse of Italian in my blood was the only culture I identified with even though I’m hesitant to divulge we have bits of French, Irish, Scottish and my father still believes we covet a tiny part Cherokee Indian (from his mothers side).

Although I have traveled the world, I have been traveling to Italy (mainly Roma) once or twice a year for the past 15-20 years. It is the only place on the planet I feel totally at home in my own skin. Someday, I dream to live there on a more “full time” basis. Yet today my heart aches to breathe in the history in Rome, meet my friends for dinner, eat the best gelato on the planet, touch the old doors, stand in front of a Caravaggio, paint with my art mentor, and walk the tiny town that was founded on my birthday looking to find myself an art studio…..or perhaps find myself a new apartment?

Today, I am thankful my nephew Zachary wants to be an Italian citizen as badly as I do. I owe it to him that our citizenship is more than just a pipe dream. Thank you my sweet nephew for cheering me on!

Today, I am proud. Proud to have my ITALIAN papers. Proud I carry such history inside myself. Proud to be a ZINGARELLI. Viva l’Italia!

“Shades of Blue” by Rochelle Carr Studio and Gallery

sculpture, acrylic, gold leaf on canvas

60×72

I feel so fortunate to have sold “Shades of Blue” the second large painting sold in Jan 2012. What a blessing. Thank you so much for appreciating the art and creativity that inspires me and paints me BLUE. ~~RMC

Shades of Blue 

Poetry by Rochelle Carr

It wasn’t the water in this painting I had seen at first glance,

Nor the width or breadth of the blueness in our lives.

It was the color blue

in waterfall form,

that made much more sense

when tilted in the opposite direction

while speaking ten different hues.

Blue month, blue fervor, blue love.

True blue

for you my darling,

oceans deep,

loving you,

in shades of blue.

fine art by Rochelle Carr Studio and Gallery

sculpture, acrylic on canvas

36×48

This is the second to the last painting before I am ready for the upcoming show. I am so relieved. I woke up at 3:30am creating new names for the last of my paintings. It’s kind of like naming children. My work feels so connected and a part of me that it’s hard to see them all leave my home. I have 29 paintings ready for the exhibition. 29 of my kids/canvas ready to do the breakaway gig again. My house will be empty of my entire collection except the seven abstracts waiting to go to Hinc Showroom at the San Francisco Design Center. Kinda funny when you think about it. It’s just like when my beloved REAL kiddos depart and say goodbye after our visits. It’s sad the “letting go” part I must endure, and then it’s a bit freeing knowing they will be okay and loved and peaceful in their new life and new homes because of the life experience I have painted inside them. Graceful exchange of beauty and life. I am thankful for my hands today.

I named this painting thinking of my up and coming Italian Citizenship. I have been dreaming of a trip to Italy(when the weather is a tad warmer) and I am not going until I have my new passport in hand. This painting reminds me of my friends in Rome that travel to the coast for weekends by the sea. Soon, I will be an official Italian Citizen and I am oh so excited! In this case I had to have an Italian Great Grandfather that did not “Naturalize” until after my grandfather was born. It was a years process and I am happy to say all the paperwork is complete and shipped to Italy. Tutto e’ possibile – Anything is POSSIBLE! I do believe we can dream up the impossible and make it happen…

ENJOY!

“Wedding Extravaganza”new fine art wedding gift

 by Rochelle Carr Studio and Gallery

sculpture, acrylic, gold leaf, resin on canvas

48X60

$5, 900.00

This is the third painting of the new year and the sister painting of Dance the Night Away With Me     #5.  This painting will also be included in the solo exhibition at NH2 Salon and Gallery in Novato, CA Jan 23rd – April 6th. These wedding paintings have been bought as gifts for bride and groom and are perfect for wedding receptions and dance floor decoration. Custom colors, flowers, cake styles, people and attire are available on request. Two to three month lead time for all orders.

http://www.rochellecarr.com

“Dance the Night Away With Me #5″   by Rochelle Carr Studio and Gallery

sculpture, acrylic, resin on canvas

48X72

$6,500.00

This is my second painting in 2012. I am painting about 6 hours nonstop a day preparing for my solo exhibition Jan 23rd, 2012 at NH2 Salon and Gallery in Novato California. There will be 26 paintings on display until April 6th. Follow Your Heart Poetry books and greeting cards are for sale as well. Over 4000 sqft. of my artwork! Please drop by and ask for a tour! A variety of imagery to delight you. ENJOY!

Thank you Nina and Nicole!

208 Vintage Way # K29  Novato, CA 94945
(415) 897-8777

“Numerology” works in progress by Rochelle Carr Studio and Gallery

Ok…….more than a few have asked to see the work in progress….so here it is….there will probably be about ten more layers added to this and I will take photos along the way in the next four months. Not sure whats next. Notice the mustard color of that Mercedes 450SL. Color me RED.

“Tools of the Trade” by Rochelle Carr Studio and Gallery

The other day I realized I became comfortable with the fact that I paint very BIG. Maybe I came to that conclusion on Jan 1st, 2012. Ok, let’s just say it was, because my favorite years have proven to be the “even numbered” years. Nice to have my very own revelation in the NEW year. Have a schtick about that even numbered thing. Trippy part is that every time I have a favorite even numbered year – I turn an ODD NUMBERED age. Damn.

Just finished the year (in the process of) completing a huge oil painting called, “Numerology.” This painting will be living in my private collection. It has two even numbers in it: the number forty-eight and the number eighty-four. These are the ages of my grandmother and myself when she passed away last year. My grandparents now live with me in my paintings. The number eighty-four is in big bright red numbers – Gram’s favorite color. My number forty-eight is covered up a tad bit only because I am not excited about turning 50 in a couple years.

I enjoy tools that enable and spread my paint in thick layers with intention and determination. Often, instead of paintbrushes, I use various sized palette knives. For the “Numerology” painting I used my palette knives AND my grandfathers trowel that he used for years in his profession as a mason contractor and bricklayer. He told me I could have that trowel last year. It was the first time I pulled it out and actually painted with it. I felt important. Big kid, big tools.

I feel closer to our memories together when I use that trowel. I can smell the summers I spent with them in Shell Beach driving with the top down in the mustard colored 450SL listening to Tony Orlando and Dawn. Simple afternoons watching my grandfather grab his trowel with his handsome tanned Italian skin slapping and sliding the mud in between beautifully colored bricks and stones…he laughed and cursed and worked fast otherwise, the mortar would set and he would have to curse some more. As you can see in the picture above, the trowel still has his mortar on it. He wanted to be an artist in high school he told me. Funny, my tools look just like his do – just a bit smaller in size. These are our TOOLS of the Trade….

“Dance the Night Away With Me 4″ by Rochelle Carr

Just finished this large painting for my new show going up Jan 14th-April 4th in Novato, California. This is perhaps the last finished works of 2011. Have two more days to go…. What will 2012 bring?

60X72

sculpture, acrylic, gold leaf on canvas.

Wandering through old files on my computer and found this quote about family. You might enjoy it. It’s almost a new year!

Family by Raphaella Vaisseau

” We are living, learning and growing together, we do our best to keep our word and teach by example, we strive to act with integrity, honesty and consideration toward others, ourselves and each other. We are taking care of each other as we also take care of ourselves, we respect who we are, and strive to make the most of the gifts we are given. We honor each other’s talents, though they may be different from our own. We strive to be a consistent source of encouragement and acknowledgment for one another. We love each other not for what we do, but for who we are at the very core of our beings. We accept that, being human, mistakes happen, and when they do, we strive to find the blessing within the opportunity, for we know that understanding is a valuable result of learning the lessons of life. As we endeavor to not take each other for granted, we are eternally vigilant. We take the time to listen to each other, so we are not surprised by growth and change. We give thanks for each day we have together and for the many blessings in our lives. We stand by each other, and love each other no matter what.
We are family.”

“Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon.  A happiness weapon.  A beauty bomb.  And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one.  It would explode high in the air – explode softly – and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air.  Floating down to earth – boxes of Crayolas.  And we wouldn’t go cheap, either – not little boxes of eight.  Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in.  With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest.  And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination.”  ~Robert Fulghum