Love at first sight mural - In search of "Bousli" (Galle).

 

The category 'Notable people/encounters' continues.
Looking back, I think that Sri Lanka, where I have been intermittently for three years, I have met some impressive people here and there.
And for some reason, most of them are on the southern coast. In Galle (Galle), inevitably, as it is where I always go.

I visited Galle on the number of times in August 2019.
I always book a guesthouse online each time I go, and the guesthouse I booked this time was THE HAPPY PLACE HOSTEL, which is in a wonderful location, within walking distance of Fort and the centre.

 At this time of the year, I would always still go out to Fort for a day or a few days if I went to Galle, so the accessibility is just right.
But it wasn't only for that reason that I was specially attracted to this place.

The wall paintings of the inside of the guesthouse that I saw when I booked online are something quite nice. There are very nice paintings. I was kind of curious about this.

 

 When I actually arrive, some of the guesthouses have a very different atmosphere to how nice they look in the pictures, but this one is even nicer than I expected!
But that's not because of the building's construction, but surely because of the paintings on wall.

It's kind of very absorbing. When you look at it, there's an incredible attraction, indescribable, like you want to look at it forever.

 But it's not like paintings of intense impression or anything like that.
If I dare to put the unspoken sensation into words, it's like, "paintings without any statement", "a transparent energy that just captures what's there and goes on forever". That's what I felt.

I don't really know if the painting has good technique or not, but it may indeed be good.
But what I feel is not like that.
I don't know, it's just so clear, and what I feel from here is like a healing effect, it clears me, and it seeps into my heart, into my energy, without any resistance.
It's really strange.

In a word: "I love it so much! I love it!" That's all I can say. I would hang this picture in my own house and always want to be close to it.

 I saw it for a brief moment and liked it so much that I wondered what was so impressive about it, whereas I am not usually so impressed by other artists' paintings. I talked about this painting for a while with the owner of the guesthouse.
'Who painted this painting!' I asked. I was very curious.

I don't know if such questions are often asked by guests, but the owner told me a lot.

The painter's name is Boosli (written by others elsewhere as "Boosli").
"I had his paintings done because I thought they were amazing myself, but actually, he's kind of mental.", he said.
In this country, the word 'mental' is sometimes used as a cloak-and-dagger term, but if you were to use in English, it would be like a developmental disorder.
"He can't communicate with people in a normal way.", he said.

"But he has a great talent for drawing and we want to support him in his life, so we asked him to draw pictures for this guesthouse."

 

 I wanted to buy his paintings (if I could afford them) and asked him where I could go to meet him and buy his paintings. The answer was a bit vague. He is not usually doing this as a painter.

I couldn't help but be curious. Then, the owner told me that there might be a shop in Fort that might have his paintings or something like that.

So later on, I decided to go to the Fort with the main aim of "maybe we can meet him!" The main purpose of this was to walk around the Fort.

A small souvenir shop right in front of the light house, where we always go. In fact, this place is run by the brother of the owner of this guesthouse, and what a surprise!

 

Before staying at this guesthouse, we had stopped here from time to time to chat with a kind young couple. One time they even let us rest for a long time in their shop when we were soaking wet in a very heavy rainstorm and squall. It was a great connection.

So I came to this shop and said, "I want to see Boosli!" and the lady said, "He came yesterday". Wow! Near miss...
'I haven't seen him yet today, I wonder he'll come... He is walking almost every day around, but sometimes he comes, sometimes he doesn't".
Somehow, I'd like to see himr! (I don't have any purpose to see him, but just the image of wanting to see him after watching his paintings).

So the lady said, "Well, if you were walking in Fort, maybe you could meet him", and I asked, "But how would I know it's him?" I asked.

She said, "Oh, you'll know it's him right away, because he's dressed differently from everyone else. He's tall, very big, and he's always walking around merrily. His clothes are very unique and fashionable. He seems to like jewellery and wears all kinds of things."

!!! I can already picture his appearance in my head in my imagination on my own.

Then I walked in the Fort for a few days, and after that I tried to walk in the Fort when I came to Galle, but I haven't encountered him yet....

Oh my God, I've been in Gaul intermittently for five months since July 2020, but I've been living on the beach all the time and I've almost forgotten to search for Boosli, ... but he's always in the corner of my mind that I'd like to meet him one day.


Aah,,, when will I meet him... And I want to see more and more of his paintings.
Of course, even when I look at just one painting, I'm drawn to it like I'm being sucked in forever and ever, but it really is wonderful to look at all of them.
And each painting has a different energy to it.

There are so few painters, even famous ones, that I have fallen in love with so much (even Egon Schiele, who I loved when I was a teenager, didn't suck me in energetically).


Next time I get the chance to go back to Gaul, I'm totally going to meet him! And I might also stay at The Happy Place Hostel, a guesthouse with his paintings.

This is the room we stayed in (picture below). There are also Boosli's paintings in the room, which have a completely different touch and are also very nice.

There is also a stylish hammock chair on the 2nd floor balcony facing the front of the house, where you can completely fit in.

I remember that in July 2020, when I visited Galle for the first time in a long time, I booked a room, but I couldn't stay there because the building was being renovated after the Curfew had been in place for a while and there were no foreign tourists there. It was sad.
I would recommend this place for its easy access to Fort and the city.

●Guesthouse「THE HAPPY PLACE HOSTEL」： (Now closed in 2022)
https://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g297896-d17171322-THE_HAPPY_PLACE_HOSTEL_SRI_LANKA-Galle_Galle_District_Southern_Province.html

 

His paintings, which I captured on camera at this time, will be in my next post!