MEET THE ARTIST
VIRGINIA SIMONS
I have loved observing from the beginning of memory. Before I even knew it as art, I called it “taking pictures with my mind.” With many uprootings in childhood, I could spend hours sorting all those pictures in my mind: California, Washington, Maine, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Arizona and Ohio.
I become fascinated with the nonverbal in the world — from facial expressions to gestures and movement of figures in space, the sun’s shadows, sunsets and starlit nights. I am delighted by the smallest of flowers growing in cracks in the Burren of County Clare in Ireland or the wildflower fields of the Alps, as well as the huge bellflower in Jill and Charlie’s garden.
ARTWORK
Here is a sneak peek into my world of art.
• Watercolor • 9 inches wide by 12 inches high • $100, unframed and unmatted
• Mixed Media • 20 X 16 inches • $250 My country grandma had a glorious informal hodge podge garden, and she let her lilies spread across the front ditches. I loved playing and hiding among those lilies as a child.
• Watercolor • 14 x 20 inches • $40, unframed and unmatted Some of my best “picture memories” are spring days on Grandpa’s Tennessee farm. He always rose before the sun and the rising would accompany him to the barn for milking. I would stand at the fence a distance away and take in the whole scene. This is my memory.
• Watercolor • 15 x 11 inches • $100
• Watermedium collage • 18 X 23 inches • $750, matted and framed
• Watercolor • 14 x 10 inches • $300 framed I collected these and placed them in a cluster in the sand, as if hugging one another after being left there from the familiar sea.