About treasures found on my watercolour journey and intentions set along the way

Though I’ve always felt an itch for creative expression, I only began nurturing a mindfully creative approach to everyday life after my burnout in 2019. I was working as an editor for a lifestyle section in a regional newspaper at that time, but I got sidetracked by anxiety and overwhelmed by the corporate mindset, so I took a sabbatical year to build a more sustainable lifestyle.

You can read more about my journey of reclaiming well-being here. This precious experience had me find purpose in a slower, intentional living, and in encouraging others to do the same. It was a deeply meaningful experience, a challenging time of healing and growth which offered many opportunities. Inspiration soon had me fall in love with photography and eventually led me home to painting where I found my path in watercolours. 

And I say home because I always used to draw growing up. I even studied textile design and engineering for three years, but I strayed away from my creative flow and never finished it, instead moving my interest towards writing. It took nearly 20 long years for me to take a blank sheet of paper and brush in an attempt to translate my emotions again. This was at the end of 2020. and it felt so healing that I kept going. 

Many tutorials later painting is teaching me more about myself than all the other creative and well-being practices combined. Though I choose to take two approaches to painting with watercolour: one in an attempt to master different techniques and advance in skills, and the other a more intuitive quest of exploring the medium and my inner landscape alike; both are equally valuable in insights gained.

Most of all, I am growing in patience and acceptance, qualities I was always short of. I am also learning to let go of control, expectations, judgements and perfectionism. The experience is as humbling as it is rewarding and fulfilling. It is powerful but also subtle; formatting, yet tender. The way the pigment moves through the water, sliding across the paper wild and free, feels like a prayer to me. And if done with such an intention it can become one. 

My mission is to make room for this experience and welcome you to share in it. I believe that we are invited to create the life we want to live. That our creative nature, and we all have one, is where the seed of life was planted in us. We owe it to our future to nourish and care for it, so that we may blossom in celebration of life. And this is my intention for the Salty nest; to become the nursery of the practices, by offering tools and motivation for owning your creative potential and crafting a more fulfilling life. I know you, bc I am you. Done with moulded experiences, ready to step into the light. Slowing down to notice the beauty, the wonder of it all, and align with that sparkling flow of inspiration is my rebellion, and inviting you to do the same my sacred pursuit.