The past few weeks have been intense with work. I did an Open Studio Day that was the perfect opportunity to showcase my art to a small group of visitors in the cozy atmosphere of my living room, where my studio or workspace keeps shifting, expanding or contracting depending on the needs of the piece I am working on at any given moment. The Open Studio Day was a great success, culminating in the sale of several artworks. Selling a painting is the ultimate recognition of an artist’s work. It means valuing the effort, originality, dedication, and talent of someone who pours their soul onto the canvas, leaving a piece of themselves with every brushstroke. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Following the Open Studio Day, I attended a week of Art Camp in Thailand, one I had already experienced the previous year. I had a strong feeling that once again, it would be just as surprising, re-energizing, and inspiring. Honestly, words fall short when trying to describe the impact that these types of events have on an artist… I simply can’t thank the organizers enough for inviting me once again. This time, we worked with discarded materials and trash found at the beach. Pushing our brains to transform what we consider “trash” into art is no easy task, but it’s the best exercise to challenge our creativity and imagination. And playing—how important is it to play? Why do adults stop playing? At what point do we forget how fun it is to race each other, jumping from one point to another with a balloon between our legs? Children learn through play, and at some stage, we adults convince ourselves that there is nothing left to learn, so we stop playing and turn into the dull, gray people society expects us to be—because, heaven forbid, someone might think we are eccentric.

Anyway, playing, my dear friends, was absolutely amazing. My team won the competition, which included a series of brilliantly creative and fun games, culminating in a challenge where five of us had to keep our balance with our feet on a sheet of newspaper that was folded in half every 20 seconds. If you touched the floor, you were out. You can probably imagine the positions we had to get into when the sheet was the size of an A5 paper. Yes, try it—with your kids, or even better, with your friends. You can thank me later.

After eight intense days of being a sponge, absorbing every detail that helps me grow as a human and as an artist—immersed in an atmosphere where creativity is in the air every second, surrounded by artists from 26 different nationalities who are pure inspiration to me—I return to the rhythm of my sweet home in Bali, where the pace of life is set by my three little monsters, and creation is mostly guided by emotions that need to be released mixed with deadlines to finish commissions for clients.

This marathon ended with the opening of the group exhibition The Power of She on Saturday, where 20 female artists exhibited our works at Sadik Art Brokerage. It was a spectacular opening, with every detail perfectly arranged—including a DJ, snakes, performances, and what felt like half of Bali gathered outside because there wasn’t even a tiny gap left inside the gallery. And the best part? The exhibition supports a truly good cause: Bali Street Mums, an organization fighting against poverty and exploitation of disadvantaged women and families.

I realize that these intense periods of activity leave me completely exhausted, yet at the same time, so deeply fulfilled that I can’t even find the right word to describe it. Everything makes sense when art aligns with a meaningful cause, and all the effort is rewarded when you witness someone falling in love at first sight with your work, giving themselves permission to own it, and cherishing that love story in the intimacy of their home happily ever after.

And now, I tiptoe back into this beautifully unpredictable routine, with my heart overflowing from everything that has passed and everything that is yet to come.