My Venice Art Excursion

Discovered moments of joy, painted in Venice

Dear Friends,

I write to you with a full, open, and grateful heart.

It has been some time since I’ve written last. If you’ve been with me for some time, you will know that I only write when there is something of beauty or meaning to share.

For those of you who are receiving this as a first letter from me, thank you for being here. It is a delight to share in this way.

It brings my heart great joy to share that I’ve recently returned from a beautiful creative retreat in Venice. A retreat that I designed and curated for myself; filled with creative prompts, treasure hunts, messages from Venice, culinary delights, meaningful engagements with locals, and much more. A gift that came to me at a perfectly aligned time in my life.

Life had been feeling a bit like a liminal stretch of time, in part due to all that has been happening globally. This trip felt like both a beautiful gateway and arrival into an ‘island’ of joy, wonder, excitement, and awe, all in the watery depths of renewal.

For a few months leading up to this retreat, I had learned of a practice suggested by a spiritual teacher. This practice was simple yet profound. Choose a word. A word for this stage in one’s life that one can hold in remembrance and allow to become a guide. A word to reflect upon and become receptive to.

I had chosen the word “open.” It is what intuitively came to me.

I think it is in part due to carrying this word with me, that I experienced Venice with more joy than I ever have in my previous travels there. And Venice is always a dream.

The art that I made was different than what I am accustomed to making. The entirety of my experience there was a creative act. My days felt like works of art and reverence. How I engaged with the city, with locals, and the inspirations and insights that came to me, was truly memorable and renewing, and remains so. The city, in each of its secret corners, truly opened me up to seeing and experiencing it from a new lens. In return I experienced life itself, through what feels like a new lens.

I will continue to share the gems of my experience, both visually and in written form, here with you. I will also be sharing my creative Venice diary on my Instagram, should you enjoy joining me there.

For now, I will sign off with a suggestion for both myself and to you, to take this moment - this small but infinitely precious moment - to fill our hearts with the joy of a beautiful place we have traveled to. And to recall how being there moved us. For me, that moment is here, in my memories of Venice, and the very first “message” I received from the city on my first day there, as I entered Piazza San Marco, to embrace above all things, Joy.

I hope you enjoyed receiving this letter as much as I’ve delighted in writing to you.

I will look forward to writing again soon. Until then, wishing you much joy, beauty, wonder, and delight in your days ahead.

With my Warmest Regards,

xx ~ Sophia