You Might Be in This Painting
Hey, hello there, friend!
My paintings have always followed my life circumstances. Looking through the work for this exhibition, I can see how much of my story is sitting there, disguised as landscapes, cats, bicycles, and colorful abstractions. Apparently, I’ve been keeping a diary all these years. Just a very unconventional one to pack.
When I was working full time managing a Brazilian restaurant, I painted Brazilian landscapes. Brazil filled my working days and found its way onto my canvases. Later, preparing for my very first solo show at the Seattle Center, I painted so much inside a room in rainy Seattle that I ended up at the eye doctor with my eyes practically swollen shut. Oil paints, a small room, and windows I kept closed because of the rain were not my best combination.
That experience led me to acrylics, and an entirely new period of experimentation began. I fell in love with color in a different way. Around that time, I also adopted my first two cats, who naturally became the subjects of an entire series. There were abstracts, cats, and plenty of figuring things out as I went.
Then came California and years of being completely obsessed with mountain biking. So, of course, there was a bicycle series. When I finally gathered the courage to participate in my first art fair in Hermosa Beach, you can probably guess what I painted: the place I had been exploring, photographing, and falling in love with. The beach, the pier, my surroundings. After my father passed away, figurative abstracts became part of my work, too. My life had changed, and my paintings changed with it.
Written down like this, the subjects might sound ordinary. A bicycle. A cat. A beach. But so much of being an artist, for me, is learning to look between things, to notice what could easily pass unnoticed: a child’s smile, a flower during a walk, the sunset reflected in a window instead of the sky. Even the colors of the food on the table while having lunch with a friend can become an inspiration I want to paint.
The subject is only part of what I’m bringing home.
And I think that’s why someone can look at a painting inspired by my life and recognize something from their own. My bicycle might remind you of the freedom you felt riding yours. A stretch of beach might be where you fell in love, cleared your head, or decided to start again. We could have walked past the same corner for years, carrying completely different stories, and still feel something familiar when we see it on a canvas.
That’s what makes bringing these paintings together for my farewell exhibition so meaningful. They hold different chapters of my life, but I’m curious about the chapters of yours that you might find inside them. That's the connection I love the most!
On October 24, from 5 to 9 PM at Resin Gallery, I’d love for you to come look. Bring someone who has shared a little of this place with you, and if a painting reminds you of something, tell me the story. RSVP here, please!
You might be in one of these paintings, and I don’t even know it yet.
And if you’re curious about what it takes to bring all these chapters into one room, this week’s episode of Decoding the Flow takes you behind the scenes. In “Planning a Solo Show in 60 Days: Delusional or Genius?” I share how I’m organizing a lifetime of paintings, asking for help, and bringing people into this vision. A little bit of both, if you ask me.
The episode is available now on my YouTube channel, and I’d love for you to watch.
Color Your Life!
Drica
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