Olga Sáenz

It is impossible to live in Costa Rica and not to be a nature fan. We are surrounded by it, even in the cities! Everything is fertile, everything growns intensely... Pure Life! Yes! 

I became a naturalist tour guide in 1988, and from the very beginning I was immersed in the tropical rainforests and their chaotic beauty. 

I remember, in the early 2000's seeing a bright pink flower up on a tree in the Tortuguero National Park. I remember thinking that I wish I was a painter to catch that brilliant glimpse of Mattel pink in the midst of the green ocean of the jungle. A few weeks later I bought my first camera. 

And I fell in love with the idea of photography. Catching those subtle and almost secretive images that lay invisible before our eyes became an obsession. 

Yes, the beautiful bird, but I was more interested in the tiny space between the feathers.

Yes, the amazing flower, but I was in love with the velvety texture of its polen. 

I learned to discover life through a 70-300.

In this same period I bought an easel and some canvas and paintings and started trying to paint. Trying is a great word for it. Whatever I did was swallowed by the generous amnesia of time and quickly I was saying that “Photography is the brush for those who don’t have talent to paint”.

Many things happened and maybe I’ll write about them in the non-existant future, but for now, I would simply like to say that my camera was lost, and so my love for tour guiding.

Changes… you know…

In 2014, a re-birth happened in my life. I was getting ready to fly away as my children were already growing independent and I was looking at freedom from responsibilities, and a solitude that could have become a deep loneliness.

We were living in an art-deco apartment building downtown San Jose and I had painted it all white. The cats that lived with us kept on pushing doors and gojumping iut the windows and I was going crazy cleaning their footprints. So, I decided to go to a nearby children supplies store and bought some paintings and did sort of a scribble over the dark paw footprints. And then I did another, and one more. I enjoyed so much I painted all the doors and window frames in the apartment and it looked great!

So I painted a mural in my bedroom… and well! That was it, No more walls, or windows… I bought a canvas then! And an easel a few weeks later. I haven’t been able to stop since then. Painting became like breathing.

Now, I have never taken a single painting lesson in my life. Actually I don’t know how to paint, in terms of techniques or even small tips.

However I’ve found a small secret I can share… The less my mind is involved in the piece I am painting, the better! 

So, here I am! Painting for nine years non-stop and extremely thankful for this surprise Life had for me and that turned me into yes… A late bloomer!