During the last few years of my life, watercolor has been my favorite medium. But recently, as a result of the changes (both material and immaterial) that I have had to go through—including spending a year locked down and isolated in the midst of a pandemic in a foreign country—I have felt a growing need to experiment with other forms of expression. So one day I decided to buy a tablet and (re)discovered digital art as a more practical and portable way to create images, not to mention the long-term savings in materials. But above all, I discovered a safe place to make mistakes as many times as I needed to, without feeling compromised by the process.
It seems that, with this, I am contradicting everything I once told my students. I have always been the more adventurous type, the one who throws herself into the dark, who closes the doors behind her to places where she no longer fits in, without any certainty about tomorrow. But after much wandering, after having to face this not-so-easy path I chose on my own, I finally feel the need to rest, to retreat, to create bonds and have somewhere to return to. I feel like I don’t need to take risks anymore.
In some inexplicable way, I think my art today reflects this longing for security and stability. Just as I grew tired of wandering around, between places and people and jobs, I also grew tired of bending over backwards to circumvent the nature of water. Watercolor is like a dance that, to be successful, must be performed in pairs. It is necessary to assimilate the physics of the world and merge with it, thus inducing shapes, colors, edges, and details. It is also the art of patience: one must wait for the paper to dry and reestablish its flat shape before adding a new layer. As you can see, it is a dance that does not work out of sync, but in alignment.
Watercolor, like every technique, has much to teach us. And it is certain that one day I will return to this practice that was so important to me and that opened me up to so many incredible experiences, recorded here. But from today on, I want comfort, so that I can remain free and honest with myself and my creative process.
