Temporary artist studio. Spent on average 8-10 hours per day painting.
MEETING MY HOST
The following morning, out there, beyond the door, the sun was already blazing bright. A narrow sliver illuminated the intricate, moorish stone floors. A car door slammed shut.
It was a cool 70 degrees Fahrenheit inside the house and I was reluctant to venture out into the muggy air outside, even though I was thrilled to meet the host. I was standing by the door just inside the shade, when suddenly a tall fellow, burnished copper by the sun, strolled in.
For a minute there, I thought my eyes played tricks on me. The aura he was projecting was otherworldly, like he was part of this world but not of it. I could have sworn I was staring at an elemental being in the flesh.
The crows feet at the corner of his eyes deepened. To my chagrin, he was now grinning from ear to ear. Either he was ecstatic at returning back home, or he’d actually just read my mind. Well. At the very least he had a sense of humor.
I grinned right back and offered: “Can I help you unload some of these things?” I wanted to start earning my keep and he was carrying boxes filled with a mountain of aromatic fruit. “Sure,” he replied. “There’s not much left, though.”
My host was a French expat who grew up in England.
His current passion is to build peaceful retreats using natural materials and conscious design and to transform gardens into food sanctuaries. His laid back, chill-out attitude broadcasts that he prefers to live in the moment - 100 percent of the time.
However, the tranquility and sophisticated aesthetics of the property tells a deeper story. I sensed that combined with an ability to seize the moment, he had the type of pragmatic personality that coerced dreams into reality with practical and methodical actions.
He swears he’s not an artist though when I comment on the beauty of each room. Right.
I'm now completely convinced and confident that I’d made the right decision in coming to Antigua. Any lingering doubts or sense of trepidation dissolved like gossamer in the wiind, in the face of such genuine warmth and authentic human being.
After all this was my first time doing work exchanges. I wasn't sure at first how it would turn out, but was willing to jump right in and try my hand at trading my creative skills for room and board when a great opportunity , such as this one, presented themselves. I'm curious to see where this takes me.
I asked my host, once everything was unloaded on the living room floor, “when would you like to talk about our project?”
“Tomorrow, maybe?” he implored with a smile.
Itching to get started, I nodded. “I’ll start working on some preliminary ideas tonight then.”
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Stay tuned for the second installment of Painting Dragons : A Journey Back to Creativity - Part Three
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Public Announcement: This blog post was originally published during the holiday season in a Christmas jingle format. It is part of a collection of 354+ posts from my original Wordpress blog "Dreaming Into Being" library. I've now retired and migrated it to “Wander & Paint,” my new blog post at the United Wanderlust art shop. As time allows, I will be reviewing, editing, condensing, updating and releasing a number of these blog posts but not all of them.
Some posts require more precision surgery than others. I'll also probably be publishing new posts as the muse wills it and father time allows. This whole process may take a while but I think these blog post serve as great documentation of my process and reminds me of certain milestones. So, most of them will be made available again- at some point.
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