Hello dear readers! If you’re new here, I’m Angelica, I’m an artist (in all senses of the word), and I use this newsletter to tell you about things I’ve done, or am doing, which may include artwork and art-adjacent activities. Please take a look at my website, YouTube page and soon to be updated store-front, where I will be stocking my first zine/mini-chapbook very soon. Thank you for being here <3.
Technically, spooky season starts in September (according to Google anyways), although I’m not sure there’s anything technical about this term… anyway, spooky season, or a spooky vibe, starts for me in the run up to Samhain (pronounced sow-un). I find myself being reminded of the dead, of the dark — or the veil, if you will.
Whatever your beliefs, I think this time of the year is a beautiful time to honour the deceased. These may be your ancestors, or artists who inspire you who are now gone from the flesh-and-blood realm. When I lived in Mexico we celebrated Día De Los Muertos which is a beautiful and holy practice. Lots of fun, too!!! I still remember it well.
All this to say that my creative practice is currently complemented by the just as creative practice of ritual-making and dreaming. It’s for this reason that I may be slower to follow up this newsletter with another, because I am more engaged in being rather than doing (or perhaps, action of a slightly different flavour).
I also find myself wanting to slow down as the nights get darker earlier in October… (which, let’s not lie, can feel more dangerous for women in big cities… so stay safe everyone please!! or buy this. ;))
At home, I am making more things on my tablet in a more restful place, and I find myself waiting slightly longer before beginning large tasks. The turn from summer to autumn invites a slowing down, a call for restoration and more balance in day-to-day activities. For me, this has also included more solitude and more attention towards nourishment and healing.
Speaking of dreaming, though, I recently became inspired in a dream-like state to create a work where my body was made up of the different landscapes that inform my ancestral lineage(s?)/ ethnicities. In order to begin making this idea manifest, I started experimenting with the app Procreate on my tablet (still kicking after 7 years, woot!)
The process yielded amazing fruit, and I shared these recently on Notes. I think these two are my favourites.
I love creating work that combines something surreal or otherworldly with the everyday and mundane. (Just as I can appreciate combining other kinds of “opposites” — high/low-brow culture and so on.)
I believe these “pictorial experiments” must be inspired by Ana Mendieta’s works, perhaps prompted by reading Sophie Strand’s recent newsletter on the body and ancestry, which uses work by Mendieta as accompaniment.
I’m going to pop a couple more Procreate experiments behind a paywall at the end; but, know that I appreciate you all! I have been making hybrid poemthingys… poem-paintings or digital explosions if you will, as well as just general noodling/ doodling.
Also, once I finish making copies of my zine/mini-chapbook and set all the necessary things up for distribution, I will be posting a complimentary one to those of you who so generously pay me every month to keep writing. Think of it as a seasonal gift, a treat for Yuletide/ High Holidays/ Christmas.
With that, I think I’ll depart…
Much love from my cosy London abode to wherever you are in the world!
Angelica xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
P.S. If you are a free subscriber, you’ll notice that comments are turned off for you on this post. If there is something that truly moves you/ delights you/ makes you curious or imbues you with a feeling that you MUST express… please DM me! I will try to reply in a good amount of time :)
on the other hand, if you’d like to upgrade your subscription, then please I would love to invite you into the swirling chaos magic / lore-constructing wonder of my paid subscriber tier…
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