Summer Night at Guild Gardens
Oil on canvas, 24”x30”, 2024.
Part of growing into your own can involve forming close bonds with others and creating new memories and traditions together. This painting is based on a flash photograph I took of my friends during a new moon ritual last summer. I wished to capture the eerie and blurry memory of this mosquito-filled night.
Sizdah Be-dar 2023
Watercolour on board, 4”x4”, 2024.
Last year my Persian-Canadian best friend invited me to celebrate Sizdah Be-dar with her and her family. Captured here is the release of the Sabzeh they had grown into the water. It was a very sweet and meaningful moment for me. I was so grateful to be welcomed to share in a familial environment and learn about this beautiful cultural tradition symbolizing new beginnings.
Frog catching in the rain
Oil on canvas, 24”x30”, 2020
I painted this piece during my first year in Toronto. Growing up in Costa Rica, nature was an important part of my childhood and served as a safe space and sanctuary for my anxious self. I have tender memories of frog catching, interacting with small critters, and playing in the rain in these spaces. Other than frequent calls with my loved ones, painting themes related to both memory and the natural landscape allowed me to find the connections to home that I was craving and soothe my homesickness during this time.
The Chef and his tools
Oil on canvas, 16”x20”, 2022
To share intimate space with and be introduced to things dear to someone else is an undeniably special thing. This is an environmental portrait of my boyfriend as he carefully sorted through his chef knife kit. One of his hobbies and our shared rituals, throughout the first year of meeting, was cooking together and for each other, sharing time and family recipes. He and the close bonds I’ve formed since arriving in Canada have been a crucial part of my sense of belonging and connection while being here.
