If you're asked to provide a brief "bio", where do you begin?
I've lived in many places, and my family is such a mix... I usually say I'm from the world. Mallorca now feels the most like home. I currently live in a small beach down called Portocolom, and my art studio is in the countryside house where my grandmother lived for 32 years.
I'm an oil painter, and I have always been interested in figure painting — in the last year it has become much clearer to me what my message is through painting... that my paintings are more like mantras. I want [them to communicate ideas] that keep us moving forward [and] convey themes I want to keep in my daily life. Trust, presence, letting go...
These ideas come through in my images. Figures without faces, tropical landscapes done with a quick brushstroke, soft tones that integrate into the canvas; the purposely unfinished.
As someone who has lived around the world and returned to Mallorca — what have you learned about the biggest contributors to your quality of life?
What I love about life is the journey and living in the present moment, so having time to do the things I love and enjoying the slow pace of life on the island is just right for me.
I think I would have never gotten to this level of balance if I was not here where there are less distractions and more time to be creative. For me, it's the simple things that make life better — I realize I need very little to feel happy. I feel very grateful for what I have, and especially for loving what I do. Having a drive and purpose in life is crucial.
Can you share more about your relationship to impermanence? And how has your life looked in the last month as a result of the quarantine?
When I moved here our storage unit with all our belongings burned down back in Venice — while it was very sad at the time, I saw it as a huge sign that there was no need to go back to California. I have always been one to go with the flow, and every time I'd moved it was always done with only a plane ticket, a small suitcase, and not much of a plan ahead.
I don't see myself staying here forever either; I think it's better not to build expectations. I know I can be happy in many places even though I have created a beautiful life here. The one things I know is everything is always changing in life.
These strange times we are living in right now require us to live in the present, day by day. I think that's a gift. I feel a huge freedom to take this time to both create work and work on myself. Outside the studio, I have been meditating and doing yoga most days, painting, playing the ukulele, and planting a vegetable garden. I really have great hopes that this quarantine will make people reconsider what their priorities are in life... it's beautiful to see how many people have come together now that we are all separated. Maybe we've been given this time to remind ourselves who we really are and what we need out of life.
