When I moved from Peru to Norway to start a new life and family, I needed to create spaces that were familiar and warm to me, because I felt like I was leaving behind, among many other things, the Pacific Sea, the sandy beach, the summers south of Lima, the walks by the sea, the colourful bougainvilleas and my home where I had also built my office and yoga and wellness studio.
After living for a year in Norway, the adaptation was hard and I missed a lot, so I decided to look for beauty in small things and, hand in hand with art, also begin to channel those emotions.
Today I share with you two activities that can inspire you to look for beauty in your new city.
Mandala photography
I started taking photos of the little flowers that were beginning to give color to the streets in the spring. I took them from an angle where the natural mandala could be seen from its center.
Mandalas are a geometric configuration that can symbolize, among other things, ALL or the universe. I can read my life today in a Mandala. They are widely used in therapy, where we analyze the patient’s choice of design and colors.
In this case, looking for the mandala in the small flowers is also seeing the universe that unfolds in something so small, that has grown there, has been nourished by the earth, and has bloomed as a whole, a perfect and complete flower. And now you can get an idea of what your mind may be seeing there. Yes, it is the wonder of life and the beauty in the little things. Our ability to see something so profound in a small flower then moves to seeing it in other small, everyday things that complete our personal universe.
Christmas decoration
Christmas is a big celebration in this area of the world, and throughout December there are different traditions, decorations and foods to prepare. And the glogg!
During the fall I began collecting pine cones from my garden (pine cones) and on walks in the forest. I also looked for stones and was inspired by several options on Pinterest. I painted little trees and nisse and the work that took me the most time was the Christmas wreath.
For this Christmas wreath I chose “beachy” colors with a range of blue colors that fused this dream of living in front of the beach (and we live in front of the Oslo fjord) and a Christmas of our own, in our style, and off course, using the resources that are here now. And that’s enough. And I had to paint 200 pinecones, learning that they absorb a lot of paint, so I had to combine the acrylics with water, and depending on the color, paint two layers. Adding some very subtle silver glitter to make it a little festive.
Painting, calmly, focusing my attention on just designing and painting, was very relaxing. But there was something more important, and that was that I did it with the intention of decorating my new home and honoring the new traditions of my new city.
Accepting and respecting my new environment was essential, so that my mind and heart opened to something new, to see a new beauty. Colder, wilder, with dark winters and trees and plants that seem to die every winter. But where even there I can find beauty.
I used local materials, with local energy and the history of belonging to Horten, where we have now raised a family. My daughter was born here. Our home now is here.
What I am sharing with you has been part of my process of having a house where I feel at home.
In the coming weeks I will be sharing other dynamics that have helped me and may also help you find your home there in your new house.
Big hug!
Dari