Today I dreamed that I had forgotten how to paint.
Acrylic on Canvas, 2.10x150cm
“Today I Dreamed I Had Forgotten How to Paint…” is an original 2012 painting by Costa Rican artist Vicky Naranjo, created during a time when painting and selling art were still distant dreams. Fish swim through a colorful imaginary city, symbolizing a dream that refused to disappear.
$5000
“Today I Dreamed I Had Forgotten How to Paint…” was created in 2012, during a very different chapter of my life. At that time, painting was not yet the central part of my everyday life as it is today. I was painting only occasionally—sometimes creating approximately one painting a year—almost as a way of keeping a promise to myself.
Becoming a full-time artist and actually selling my art still felt like a distant dream.
This painting was born from that strange and powerful fear: what if I forgot how to paint? What if the dream I had carried for so long slowly disappeared simply because I was not giving it enough space in my life?
The title came from that feeling. Today I Dreamed I Had Forgotten How to Paint… became a reminder that the dream was still there, even when I was not painting regularly.
The composition brings together colorful fish, flowers, organic shapes, and an imaginary urban landscape, creating a world where nature and the city coexist. The fish appear to move through the architecture as if another reality were possible—a visual metaphor for imagination finding its way through everyday life.
Looking back at this painting years later, its meaning has become even more personal. What once felt like a distant possibility eventually became my reality. I went from painting occasionally to building my life around art, creating paintings and sculptures, exhibiting my work, and selling my art internationally.
In that sense, this painting feels almost like a message from my past self to the artist I would eventually become.
I did not know in 2012 where my artistic path would take me. I only knew that I needed to keep the dream alive.
This painting is a visual record of a dream in waiting—and a reminder that sometimes a dream can remain quietly alive until we are finally ready to pursue it.
Created in 2012, this original artwork represents an important early chapter in Vicky Naranjo’s artistic journey and her ongoing exploration of imagination, creativity, nature, urban environments, and the emotional connection between art and personal dreams.
