These are two paragraphs from my school essay that inspired my painting "Nostalgia."
My story begins in a small country in the heart of Europe where I was born. But my story does not end in this country. I have always longed for the simple and peaceful life that this country has given me. Now that I’ve found myself in a big world overseas, I see it so clearly. The simplicity of life in my country and the nostalgic beauty of the place around me is almost idyllic in my memories. When one walks down the streets of my hometown surrounded by historic buildings in many different styles, it may seem that life there is as beautiful as the stucco on the facades of these houses. Even the people who walk out of these buildings have something idyllic inside, almost as if everyone still has a child’s soul.
Many of my feelings of happiness, joy, and security are attached to my country. I understood that my goal on this planet is not to stay in one place but that my life is a journey that ends in death because things on Earth are constantly changing, and everything is moving forward. Sometimes, however, I would like to have a greater ability to navigate through these changes and look back less. There are times when I can’t stand this continuous flow, and I wish things would never change so that everything would stay the same forever so I could sit on a chair in a warm cafe listening to my friends laugh and watching the first snowflakes slowly fall on the ground behind the cafe window. But I know that I will have to get out of this chair and leave.