May - September 2022 - Around the world - People
In Stories #10 I have shared how food, drinks and games help to build new connections around the world.
Today, I would like to open another magic box:
The power of water colours to create new and deepen existing friendship.
I started my own painting journey back in 2020.
Yes you guessed it, next to puzzling with Philipp, it was a typical Covid hobby.
Gladly, the fascination prevailed after the months in lock-down and the colours traveled with me across the ocean this year.
These moments of taking out the little square box of water colours and starting to paint are engraved in my memory.
Somehow, when I took out the brush and started a first stroke of colour, time slowed down (Kairos the Greek God of living in the moment, seemingly also likes water colours).
Here is to you all who have sat next to me or painted with me over the last months around the globe.
The Colours in the desert
The first time I took out my water colours during my sabbatical, was back in Parque Nacional Nevado Tres Cruces. It was a lazy day at the Refugio. Laura chilled in her hammock, Alvaro tinkered around the house and I sat down to capture the colours and atmosphere of the the salt lake in front of us. It was blissful and utterly motivating to sit in the sun and soak up some warmth, before the fierce afternoon wind regained it’s strength. Writing these lines, I vividly remember the dry and fresh air in my nose, the sound of nature and nothing else, that special moment on the wooden terrace.
Colouring during Rainy Season in Costa Rica
Next came a rainy afternoon in Costa Rica. Philipp and I sat down on a little covered table outside a coffee shop in Nosara. We were waiting for our surfing lesson, when the afternoon rain kicked in. Sipping an iced Americano, I painted the beautiful Quetzal we saw back in Monteverde.
We took our surfing lesson afterwards in the pouring rain with storms raging near by. Seldom have I felt so alive, falling down and getting on the oversized beginner board again and again, rain water and salty sea water intermingling before my vision (and in my mouth).
Painting with my Yoga Family
During the Yoga Teacher Training, I took out time to paint for myself and also enjoyed the painting sessions with the girls.
We painted on our first free day, a rainy Saturday after successfully climbing down to the bottom of the Montezuma waterfalls.
We painted instead or as part of our studying sessions for the final exam. And we painted on our last days early in the morning, while watching the sunrise above the sea below us. It was magic, how a little box of colours and a few brushes fuelled joy and creativity within the lovely Anamaya family.
Colourful shades of the USA
Naturally, the many hours spent on the Amtrak trains, gave space for some painting sessions too. The California Zephyr crew as well as Anna on the Coastal Starlight joined me in a few hours of painting, while looking out into the beautiful and changing scenery passing in front of us.
New Friendships in my courtyard
Back home in Switzerland, I took out the colours for my favourite moments to paint: Personal cards for my friends. I painted two wedding cards during the two weeks back home and unexpectedly even made a new friend while painting one of the cards in the Unterer Letten Badi in Zurich.
Sail and Paint
Elif, my brother’s girlfriend joined me in a painting session on our sailing boat. I sketched a funny little version of our sailing boat for Dimitri and she finished her painting of lemons, determined as we conducted a challenging anchor manoeuvre at the port of Methana.
The friend and painting teacher on Cyprus
The biggest painting highlight yet, was the last week I’ve spent on the beautiful island of Cyprus. I stayed with my friend and former colleague from my time at the Bucherer watch store Liz, who moved to the island after her well-deserved retirement. I was able to soak up some of the extensive know-how about the magic of water colours from her.
A natural teacher and full of insights from her own painting journey during the last 30 years, I left the island with new knowledge about the techniques, some beautiful pictures I took with my camera as future themes and a few beautiful designs that captured the amazing week we spent together, swimming, feasting on fish and taking daily afternoon naps, better than any word could do.
Thank you all, my fellow painting friends.
Close to home or far away, how do you bring colours into yours and other people’s life?
P.S. I just arrived at the peaceful floating hostel ArkaBarka in Belgrad. To my friends such as Alexandra, Katja, Helen, Franzi, Christa, Liz, Ling and many others: thank you for the direct or indirect kind feedback on my Yuanfen stories and your active reading! It means a lot to me to see that the number of people reading each story remains stable and the number of subscribers continues to grow in a slow but steady pace. Your feedback motivates me to carry on!
P.P.S. For those of you, who are hardly managing to read any newsletter in your inbox (I did a spring clean-up and went down from 20 newsletters to three after the Vipassana Meditation course ;-)), you could download the Substack Reader App and find the “Yuanfen - Lea’s Stories” collection there too. Maybe a little bit less noise than in your e-mail inbox. Just maybe.
Dare I suggest even more beautiful than your travel photos?!
What a amazing week Lea, with hot weather, sunrise, sunsets, great food and lovely painting sessions..
Keep up the way you are, enjoy all the great moments in future...remember 30 minutes every day let dance the brush and 🎨 🖌 paint. Take care