The Writer’s Monologue
There are moment’s in your life where you find your life’s stopwatch holt to ruminate over a breath-taking moment. It could be a beautiful view from your favourite hiking trail or that one Carpenter’s song , ‘Top Of The World’. The ‘stop and stare’ moment. My moment was at a little painting studio on a quiet street in Assisi, Italy. La Botegga Acquerelli.
It was 9 days before Christmas and the town was quiet on that Tuesday morning, the only sound coming from a saxophone playing toy Santa. The melody Silent Night set the mood as the locals shuffled along in their winter coats and boots to start their day in the cold. I was on my way to the Basílica Superior de São Francisco de Assisi. Along the way, i caught sight of a gentleman, in the comfort of a warm and well lit painting studio, brushing up a landscape painting he was working on. Like a mother to a child peddling a bicycle for the first time, his focus did not shift, eye to detail and the strokes of his brush precise but poised. I stepped into La Botegga Acqurelli with hopes to watch him add the finishing touches and was immediately drawn to the paintings hung around the store, each telling me their unique stories through the bold colours and strokes.
The gentleman noticed me looking intently around and put his paintbrush into a bottle by the easel. We spoke for a life-altering 5 minutes thereafter. He told me that the paintings around the studio were his and he was very proud. Following the countless praises from myself, he sat with a smile of gratitude, eyes shifting around to admire the paintings he would have looked at everyday. That same love and passion in his eyes never went away and it was as if he was admiring his work for the first time. My ‘stop and stare’ moment. He imparted that despite the highs and lows of a typical business venture, he comes in to do what he loved everyday and waking up this early was in his own words,” No problem at all”. I left the store shortly after with a smile.
Good day! I am Brian Colond. Just an individual with a Fujifilm camera on my right and a brown leather journal on my left, my life has been nothing short of a drive down the Great Ocean Road. Sharp turns with new adventures. Pit-stops to refill gas and take a breather after hard maneuvers, bumps in the road one might say. Not forgetting long roads up to plenty of good views as well. Rooted to my deep love for reading, writing and photography, my world expanded from a literature student confined to the walls of his classroom to the world out there.
Having stopped at La Botegga Acqurelli, hopes to water those roots have arose. Picking up my brush, i am hoping to paint my story for you here with writings from my own road trip. Journey with me.
“Don’t Look Back , Boy”
– Satchel Paige, Words From The Window Seat
FROM LUKE'S NOTES 