Seems like autumn has made its way over here again, and it makes me happy because nature changed its clothes into my favorite colors, of deep reds and orange, rich yellows and gold, copper browns, and black.
Once with it, my mood has also slipped into a more introspective (not that was ever gone anyways haha 😅) and nurturing tone. A time for harvest, coziness, and warm slowness.
One of the things I love the most about Romania is that Romanian people still live more in sync with the seasons, and while I enjoy having everything one could ever desire at a snap of the fingers, I also love honoring nature’s cycles – and my very own cycles.
Just how in nature almost nothing blooms all year round – in the same way, we go through phases, gestation times, productive times, rest times etc. And with that comes the inevitable craving of different things at different times, which makes living in the present moment that much more meaningful and exciting. It helps one take things less for granted, and appreciate it more.
After all, the whole point of creating seasonal celebrations is to remember and immortalize how each “slice” of time has its beauty and magic, even in its utmost simplicity. Our very own unique puzzle of life-frames that each person finds worthwhile.
The taste of cider/must (unfermented wine; how do you even translate this?), or cinnamon, the smell of smoky leaves, colors of guilded golds and rust, foggy mornings, and spooky sounds have all blended together to wake to life watercolor and ink paintings for my art journal pages.
I made new experiments by splitting a bigger paper page into sections and letting intuition guide me. I then cut off the page into smaller artworks and kept the parts that were telling a visual story together.
For this one I felt inspired to hint through shapes and colors at dark flowers or roses similar to the still life paintings of Romanticism period. This served as a great reminder that even during the darker days of autumn and winter, there is so much opportunity to ignite the warmth and spark within.
Embracing my own unique rhythm over the past few years has also allowed me to finally overcome a lot of the anxiety that I’ve been battling since childhood.
I simply couldn’t find myself in the increasingly faster pace of life, and the best choice I could ever make for myself – and my overall deteriorating health – was to leave behind the places and the environments which were contributing to pointless suffering.
With a nervous system constantly in overdrive mode, turning to art, music, and nature (and less screen time), has transformed and saved my life. Even in the busiest of days I made time for a few short minutes of practice, without pressure or making it into “work”. Small peaceful moments outside of time.
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