Wanderlust and Canvas: Room for Intrepretation

Travel. It's more than just snapping photos and checking off landmarks. For me, it's a visceral experience, a deep dive into the heart of what makes our world so beautifully diverse. It's about those quiet moments of realization, the subtle shifts in perspective that come from seeing how we, as humans, shape and are shaped by the spaces we inhabit.  It is an investigation and response.

Therein is an incredible paradox I keep encountering: the simultaneous similarity and stark difference between places. Take Portugal, for instance. Driving down those winding roads, history whispers from every cork tree, each stone a testament to centuries past. The coastline, a tapestry of hidden beaches and dramatic cliffs, feels intimate, every vista a story told within a compact, vibrant space. I remember learning about the cork trees, where cork comes from and how it's harvested.  Just one instance of something beautiful and amazing, bringing a new appreciation to something I had never thought about.

In contrast you might cross the Atlantic and find yourself in California. The sheer scale is breathtaking. The towering redwoods, the endless sweep of the Pacific coastline – it’s an experience in immensity. It’s the feeling of being a small part of something vast and ancient.

These contrasting landscapes, these moments of discovery, they don't just stay with me. They seep into my art.

In this painting in a recent series, I tried to capture that feeling, that sense of age and wonder I found in the vistas, hills and rock formations of Portugual. I wanted to translate the colors, the textures, the very essence of a place onto canvas. But more than just replicating what I saw, I wanted to reinterpret it, to filter it through my own experience.

And that's where the magic happens, I think. As artists, we're not just creating representations; we're creating invitations. We're saying, "Look at this world through my eyes, and tell me what you see." It's not about dictating a specific interpretation. It's about creating a space for connection, a shared emotional landscape.  If i paint a mountain you may not say that's a mountain but you will hopefully look at it and say, "this is beautiful and  authentic, I get it."  This is the creation of something between me and the viewer.

My ultimate hope is that my art intrigues, that it refreshes, that it draws you in. To feel something, to understand something, even if it’s different from what I felt.