Sunset Baleal - Original Work 140 x 100 cm

Original Work | 140x100 cm | Acrylic on Canvas | 2024

From the series: Entrepreneurial Spirit

This trip was something truly special. After exiting my last company, I needed a break—a moment to pause and reset, alone. I wanted to travel, to step away from the intense years of building a startup and the relentless workload that came with it.

So, with a camper van and a surfboard, I set off—not to the southern Algarve, as I usually would, but this time north of Lisbon. Aside from Peniche, the beaches around Ericeira were still uncharted territory for me.

It didn’t take long for me to fall into a new rhythm, far removed from the pressures of work: early mornings, reading, coffee, surfing, breakfast, writing, another surf session, and in the evening—dinner and sunset, with a sundowner in hand.

This "Golden Hour" had such a magical effect on me that it simply had to be captured on canvas. A sea of intense colors, the last surfers still in the water, and a glass of rosé in hand. One scene remains especially vivid in my memory—Baleal, with its endless ocean views and the words I wrote down as I took it all in.