Where did I start from

You probably don’t know this, but I’ll tell you a curiosity about my life: I have a Political Science degree in International Relations and I was a career diplomat. I started my professional career when I was very young and dedicated the best years of my life to my mission: diplomacy.

You can find more details about my life in the about me section of my website.

It is a work I have been doing for 23 yearsbut because of the political instability in my country and a certain tendency towards nepotism, combined with my desire to keep the family together and give my 2 daughters a stable life, I decided to quit, even though it was very difficult.

What inspired me to paint?

I’ve always enjoyed drawing and painting. Ever since I was a little girl with my twin sister, I used to enjoy leaving a mark on the walls of the house (maybe today someone would call it inhouse art 😊). When I was in Rome, in diplomatic service at the Vatican, I attended a drawing and painting course. I still remember when I was leaving the office (Venezuelan Embassy to the Holy See) and I was all happy to go to the atelier of Ninni Verga, my Roman teacher, which overlooked Piazza Navona.

In that place I learned to guide and control my talent. Ninni made me start with pencils, then move on to pastel and oil. It was not an automatic passage: I had to conquer it and it took a lot of practice.

I remember that once a week we were also studying anatomy andlive drawing with models. It was a challenge to draw their bodies by sketching in 30 minutes, but it helped a lot. . We also did outdoor drawing: we used to go out and draw in Rome it was easy, every building is a monument).Unfortunately, after almost three years of study, I had to stop for service reasons, because I was moved to Caracas.

I started studying and painting again a few years later when I moved to Bologna, for my husband Vittorio’s work. I only did it because I felt the need to express myself, tofind a way to communicate what I was feeling: the lack of my Venezuelan family and my roots. At the time I was in the grip of an existential anxiety: to find a purpose and peace. So I took pencils and brushes in my hand and found myself again.

As a perfectionist, I joined a workshop to learn the technique of acrylic painting and improve oil painting. Still today, after more than five years, I continue my training, but in a different way: I attend an atelier, especially because I love the exchange with other artists.

What kind of techniques do I use?

would say that I am a classic painter: I think that at the basis of any painting there must first be a good drawing. So I always start from there.

After preparing the canvas (I always use diluted acrylic) I draw with charcoal. Then I decide if I want to use acrylic, oil orboth. My subjects are images that impress me. Lightning strikes, which rarely happen. I can’t explain it, it’s like a call or signal that urges me to take a canvas. Most of the time I use oil paintings. I start with brushes and then finish with a spatola. I love the material texture texture and the spatula allows me to use a lot of colour.

I always start from the background and then focus on the subject.

Recently I have been using the plaster technique as the basis of my paintings. So I can give consistency to the canvas and play with the spatula, but also with other tools such as knives and credit cards (expired) or loyalty cards: I move them, play with them, draw geometric lines, or circumferences and then build the subject from those shapes. This technique allows me to express my creativity without paying too much attention to the rules.

Here is one of my last paintings created with this technique. I like it a lot and you? Tell me what you think about it. Write me at arocharivas@gmail.com

I hope this article has been useful for entering my creative world.

You can keep up to date on my upcoming exhibitions and events in the dedicated section on my website.
Please follow me on my social channels Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube