Painting Outside the Lines- Costa Rica

PAINTING OUTSIDE THE LINES- Costa Rica

How I decided

How it evolved

My different projects

My favorite projects

People I met

Lessons I learned

Next stop?

Living Forest, Lake Arenal Retreat Center

After my time in the Central Valley, I headed Northwest to the area of Lake Arenal, to a retreat center called Living Forest where I had been invited to come trade my services painting and teaching yoga for lodging. Thus began my first mural project, and what eventually became Painting Outside the Lines.
Johanna is a sweet woman originally from Finland, who felt moved to build a retreat center in the Lake Arenal area that would host retreats focused on healing, dancing, yoga, nutrition amongst other topics. The three shared lodging options were in need of some interior re-design. My project was to paint a butterfly in the Mariposa Room, and a monkey in the Mono Room.

After three weeks at the Living Forest in the beautiful land of Tilaran, I headed West to a place that would soon become very close to my heart: the Nicoya Peninsula. I started out at Rancho Delicioso, the organic farm that provides fresh vegetables and fruit to the neighboring Anamaya Yoga Resort.

I called this project “Painting Outside the Lines” to portray the idea of not following the “rules” when it comes to business, travel and art. To paint outside the lines in our daily lives means to go where we feel drawn to go, regardless of what tradition, soceity, or fear might tell us.

On this trip I painted outside the lines financially, artistically and socially, and as a result bore witness to stories, miracles and love. I decided on Costa Rica after having visited with the country during my teenage years.

After finishing a year of service as an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) in Northern California, and already having a Bachelor's of Arts under my belt, I found myself back in my hometown, not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life. The GREs came, Graduate School applications were sent, and I realized that I had five months of free time until my studies would begin again. Costa Rica had always been at the back of my mind, but now with almost a half year in free time, and with the apparent urge to “find my calling”, a vagabonding adventure seemed like the logical next step.

Originally I was to begin my internship within the first week of January... however, in true Costa Rican style, that got pushed back to the last week of January, and then to the first week of February... It was then that I decided to pursue my own type of internship, an internship where I set my schedule and I made the rules.

	My first gig was in San Ramon with a Construction Management Study Abroad group from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. I was to be their Translator and on-call Urban Planner. For two weeks I accompanied them to different job sites, cultural tours and even morning strolls to offer my translation services (and the occasional yoga lesson).
		As a member of the tribe, not only did I get my very own (XL) Minnesota Construction Management t-shirt, but I also got to tag along on all of the excursions!

While interning with the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, I was also volunteering a few days a week at a nearby nature reserve, Madre Verde (in the town of Palmares). There, I was working with the butterfly garden, learning the intricacies of nurturing a butterfly from before it was born, to after it could fly!