Photo by Artem Podrez from Pexels.
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve spent improving this website, but I finally made it to the point of finally starting the blog. Like many others, I had one many, many years ago, and of course, it went away. I didn’t lose relevant stuff aside from some random thoughts back then, but I think now, as an artist, it is important to have a place where I can share my process on the creative road that I decided to walk far from my country.
First, an introduction. My name is Andrea, and I’m 34 years old. I live in Best, a small town close to Eindhoven in the south of the Netherlands. I live with my husband and our ginger cat. From Monday to Friday, I have a part-time job doing something that is not related to the arts at all. But actually, it’s my passion for the arts that keeps me going and determines what I do with the rest of my time. I don’t care about living in big cities because I enjoy being at home and spending time in my studio, except if there’s a gig or concert by any of my favorite musicians, in which case I’ll travel to any place no matter how.
Of course, I enjoy socializing and meeting up with the closer friends I’ve made here. Sadly, the older we get, the more complicated it gets with our schedules. Then, when spending time with yourself, doing the things you love the most is all you have and all you need. And to be honest, I really like it. Anyway, I can tell you that here in the Netherlands, it’s quite difficult to live in solitude. This is a small country, and I can take a train to any big city anytime I need to; it’s not like I’m in the middle of nowhere, even though sometimes I wish I could be closer to nature.
It has been almost 6 years since I left my home in Ecuador. For any Dutch speaker, that sounds still a little, sometimes for me it sounds like ages, and sometimes it feels like all it happened in a blink of an eye. I spent two years studying in Madrid and moved to Best in 2019. A year later, I decided to become a zzp’er (zelfstandig zonder personeel), which means a self-employed person without employees. Being an entrepreneur is always hard, but being an art entrepreneur requires a big passion to not give up anytime things don’t go the way you wish. But here I am.
So this is just a bit of my present; who knows what comes tomorrow?
Thanks for reading, and I’ll talk to you soon!
Cheers,
Andrea
❤
