Ani Rangelova - Anira

My story

I was born on November 4, 1959, in the Eastern Rhodopes – a place full of life-giving energy and wonderfully kind people. I lived there until I was 12, and to this day, it remains the most magical place in the world for me. I’ve been drawing since childhood. I started with pencil on paper – portraits of children and adults who would pose for me in the small garden near our home in Plovdiv, where we moved later on. When I became a student in Sofia, I stopped drawing – I simply didn’t have the time. I got married, had children, and life moved quickly – work, responsibilities, the everyday rush. In 1994, I founded my second company – the advertising agency Vivati. I created it with the dream of returning to art. Initially, the idea was to start a graphic design studio.

The Family

My essential reality

My Core Reality
My first and most essential reality is my family. My children and grandchildren are my ikigai – the reason I wake up each morning with a smile. They are my joy, my purpose, and my inspiration.

The Company

My parallel reality

In 1994, I founded Vivati, my “third child.” Fortunately, it proved resilient to time and life’s many changes – and has been growing successfully for over 30 years. I hope it continues for at least another 30 – with inspiration, stability, and joy. Art has always been a part of me. Through Vivati, I found a way to express it in the professional world – first through design, and over the years, through the creation of beautiful and functional corporate gifts. This is deeply creative work that requires sensitivity, aesthetics, and an understanding of people – qualities I draw from my art.

I haven't had time to draw for many years.

The return....

For decades, I didn’t have time to paint. I returned to it around the age of 45 – a colorful, unusual, and deeply emotional rediscovery. I started painting on glass – decorating bottles. I painted hundreds. Until one day, I realized it wasn’t enough anymore. That morning, I left all my painted bottles by the dumpster. By noon, not a single one remained. And that’s when my love affair with oil paints began – a love that continues to this day. I’ve painted dozens of works. Many of them I’ve given as gifts or sold. I know they now live in homes where they’re appreciated. Over the past two years, my style has changed noticeably. Acrylics – with all their shine and vibrancy – have entered my creative world, giving it new color, scale, and depth.

The painting

My fantasy reality

Around 2005, I returned intensively to my great love – painting. For me, it’s a form of logotherapy – a path to meaning and wholeness. It’s what makes me feel complete. And so it continues to this day. I paint every day. Family, business, and painting all find their meeting point in my art – where fantasy and reality intertwine to create a world that is truly my own.

Glass

My feeling for what I paint...

Glass has returned to my art, this time replacing the canvas. It opened a space for my spirituality – allowing me to express matter in a new way, with more transparency, layers, and light. Today, I love everything I have painted – and everything I continue to paint. That wasn’t always the case. But with time, I began to see the beauty in every painting I’ve created. The more the years pass, the more blessed I feel by what flows from my hands. For many years, I worked only with oil paints, storing my canvases at home. In 2022, I turned to acrylics – seeking to move away from the sadness I felt in my oil paintings. I spent about a year painting exclusively with acrylics. Then I began to experiment – blending different types of paints and media. I loved this process, as it expanded my expressive possibilities and allowed me to create effects difficult to achieve with a single medium. At the end of 2022 and into 2023, I began painting on acrylic and tempered glass. I returned to glass – but on a different level. I seem to have a lasting connection to it – to its magical expressiveness and the possibility of combining multiple techniques. Today, I paint on tempered glass, with acrylic on canvas, and with oil paints – depending on my mood and the emotion I want to express.