It’s been about 1.8 years since then. The first piece started with a cheesecake, which expanded to Princess Diana - who resonated with my emptiness back then - and then to my grateful memories with my sister a few years ago, our trip to France.

Oil painting takes time. In fact, a long time to finish a single work. You add a layer, then another, giving depth to the piece. You watch and scrutinize it every time you sit in front of the ongoing work, for hours. Then, slowly, you start to fall in love with the object. And as it takes time, I decided to only start drawing the ones that make me happy, so that brings another layer of brightness to myself and to the world.

Painting taught me how to love the subject I draw through observation, and opened up a new perspective - like learning a new language. Since then, when I visit museums, I start to notice things I used to ignore, like the brushstrokes and lighting effects that painters used in their work, which hadn’t been obvious to me before. It was truly eye-opening.

I can’t paint often, as I live in a small studio with limited ventilation and need to go to the painting studio to work - on top of my other commitments. Still, I love the process of painting: focusing so deeply that time disappears, sitting alone with just the canvas and brushes. So I try to paint at least once every other week. I dream one day of setting up my own painting and work office at home.

Side note: Guido van Rossum - the creator of Python, who also proudly worked at CWI (a nice documentary to watch) - started Python during a Christmas holiday. I think we all need long Christmas holidays to spark new work.

Sep 6th, 2025