My studio is an island in the Island of Manhattan. The time here is just a convention. The space is magic because of the light. Early in the morning my day begins at the window facing the Hudson River.

The sun rising from across town send to my window incandescent messages reflected from the building across the street. The big Apple banner is still there. For months Maria Callas has been looking at me sending every morning the same message, "Think Different."

Now, even if she is gone, I keep taking photographs, because every day I see something new and my eyes never get tired of looking at New York's skies. A coffee in the kitchen, looking at the paintings of the Islands my heart is longing for. I am ready to work in the large room.

My life rotates from now, around the beautiful window facing north. The space is empty. Large pieces of linen and canvas are stapled on the walls. I move from one painting to another trying to get lost in this whirl and let the unconscious guide my brushstrokes. Many times I find myself dancing with the paintings as I am following a silent inner music: what a beautiful feeling. The afternoon light comes in to play with my works, drawing on them patterns, perhaps messages…

Very often I take all the canvas down because I need to see the walls empty and feel just "white" around me. It is time to "walk" over the paintings and work on the floor. Drippings of color, footprints, lines, marks and scratches: the floor becomes a painting itself, while Labyrinths, Dreams, Tigers, Constellations come to life in a series of carpets. Magic Flying Carpets, easy to roll up when I feel I am ready to paint "vertical" again.

The idea of a still life as wide as the east wall comes to my mind and I set a long table in the center of the studio. The painting will represent as in a "Mirror" the banquet. White flowers and linen, green apples and lemons, porcelain, and my favorite, glasses.

I have just created a very unusual dining room. Now I can have an Open Studio and share the magic of the installation. My guests never know what to expect: carpets on the walls or large paintings hanging from the ceiling? Whirling Dervishes life size… golden icons of healing flowers or white tulips hanging in front of a TIFFANY window?

My studio is a "moveable feast" and the space is moveable too, because Arianna is kind of a nomad herself. It is magic to create with the carpets a tent to retreat at night. The Royal Tiger is on the wall, the Orientation Tiger is spread on the floor. I can lie down pretending to feel the sand of the desert again. The indigo in the sky brings back images from unforgettable nights in mysterious countries.

It is time to sit on my red chair, silent precious witness of my life. Some incense and some music, waiting for the orange light of a gorgeous sunset to spread around the studio. From the west window I can see Venus is already in the sky. An incandescent Sun is melting behind the building across the street. I cannot read the Apple sign any longer, but I know the message is there to remind me again and again: "Think Different."

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