By The Green Room Journal

For Vero Burans, becoming an artist wasn’t part of a carefully mapped-out plan.

Years ago, she was studying Cultural Anthropology and nearing the end of her master’s degree. Her final exams were finished, and she left to travel through Mexico and Central America, initially intending to use the experience as research for her thesis.

Instead, somewhere along the way, the plan began to unravel.

“I realized I couldn't finish my studies,” Vero says. “Deep down, it was a path that never truly made my heart happy.”

What began as a research trip became something much bigger: the beginning of an entirely different life.

Left: "From the beach walks and seashells hunts to the life we've built together..." / acrylic on surfboard / original hand-painted artwork / 6ft / commissioned piece / sold.

Right: "The Beauty of Fragility" / acrylic on surfboard / original hand-painted surfboard / 6ft 

Choosing Art Without a Roadmap

Vero had always dreamed of creating art. She painted for herself, using it as a way to process life and understand the world around her, but she never imagined it could become her career.

Travel changed that.

“During those travels through Mexico and Central America, something shifted inside me,” she says. When she eventually returned to Europe, the feeling followed her.

Surfing became part of that transformation, too.

As Vero spent more time in the ocean, she found herself learning lessons that followed her back into her creative life: patience, presence, trust, and the willingness to let go of control.

“Learning to read the waves and trust my intuition reminded me that creating art is very similar,” she says. “You have to listen, take risks, and trust the process.”

In many ways, surfing also helped Vero believe more deeply in herself as an artist. And eventually, the connection between the two became literal: she began painting surfboards.

Old, damaged, and forgotten boards became another kind of canvas. Rather than seeing something that had reached the end of its useful life, Vero saw the possibility of giving it another one.

“For me, this is also a reminder that we can become whatever we choose in life,” she says. “We can reinvent ourselves and create something beautiful from unexpected beginnings.”

There is an environmental thread running through the work as well. By transforming discarded boards into original pieces of art, Vero hopes to encourage people to think more carefully about what we consume and throw away, while celebrating the freedom and constant transformation she finds in the natural world.

There was no formal art education waiting for her. No carefully constructed career plan. Just an increasingly difficult-to-ignore desire to create.

“Every day there was this quiet voice telling me, follow your heart. Eventually, I listened.”

That decision led Vero toward a life she hadn't originally planned for, one built around painting, murals, travel, and sharing her work with people around the world.

What gave her the courage to keep going was her belief in what art could actually do.

“Art is one of the most powerful healing tools we have as human beings,” she says. “It has the ability to connect us, inspire us, and transform the way we experience ourselves and the spaces around us.”

The Story Behind the Finished Piece

Looking at one of Vero’s colorful paintings or murals, it would be easy to focus only on the finished work.

But there’s an entire story we don't see.

Every piece represents hours of sketching, experimenting, making mistakes, following intuition, and returning to the work again and again. For Vero, the process is as emotional as it is creative.

“As an artist, you often create without knowing whether anyone will truly connect with your work or whether it will lead to the next opportunity,” she says. “But you keep creating anyway.”

That uncertainty is part of the work.

So is trust.

Vero is currently allowing even more of that intuition into her practice, experimenting with abstraction and finding new ways to express emotion, joy, human connection, and what she describes as the preciousness of life.

"This side of paradice, divine and always with love.." / Acrylic on canvas / 120x80 cm / commissioned piece / sold

A Studio That Feels Like Home

Vero has had to begin again more than once.

She has created studios in different locations and during different chapters of her life. Now, she finds herself searching for the next one.

Ask her what that dream studio looks like, and the answer has very little to do with fancy equipment.

Big windows. Morning sun. Fresh wildflowers. Coffee. Music playing in the background.

“Oh, I love this question,” she says. “Light... oh my god, lighting is so important. It changes everything.”

She imagines a space where hours can pass unnoticed. Somewhere she can create, dream, make mistakes, and follow wherever the work leads.

“I think that's my dream studio not because it's perfect, but because it feels like home.”

"el arte es un lenguaje, que no necesita traduccion . se siente" / Mural art wall, Casa Tortugas, Punta de Mita, Nayarit Mexico

The Preciousness of Ordinary Life

Ultimately, Vero hopes her work reminds people of something remarkably simple: life is precious.

She wants her paintings to encourage people to observe what surrounds them, reconnect with themselves and nature, and pay attention to the things that are easily overlooked.

“If my art can make someone slow down for a moment, feel something, or see the beauty in the simple things around them, then I've done what I came here to do.”

Perhaps that philosophy makes even more sense when you consider the path that brought her here.

Vero didn't follow the life she had already spent years preparing for. She changed direction without formal training or any guarantee that art would become a sustainable career.

She simply knew she needed to try.

“I didn't have a traditional path or formal art education, just a deep feeling that I was meant to create,” she says.

And maybe that's what she hopes people take from her story, too.

Not necessarily that everyone should abandon their plans and become an artist, but that there is something worth paying attention to when the life you're building and the life you want begin pulling you in different directions.

For Vero, trusting that feeling changed everything.

"la mirada del oceano" / Acrylic on canvas / 30x40 cm

Where to Find Vero

Instagram: @veroburans

Facebook: VeroBurans

Pinterest: VEROVICIART | Vero Burans

Email: veroburans@gmail.com

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