I vividly remember one of my first artworks from first grade in South Korea: a diver exploring the deep ocean, surrounded by fish. It was a proud achievement I’ve carried with me throughout my life.

In the 1980s, my elementary school in South Korea didn't have a dedicated art teacher, so it wasn’t until middle school that I was first introduced to the 4B pencil and the basics of drawing. My art teacher had a plaster cast of Agrippa and taught art once a week. She liked my drawings and even encouraged me to seriously consider art school.

When I entered high school, I started saving money to buy art materials, but soon faced opposition from my parents. I knew that art lessons and attending art school were beyond our family’s financial reach, and being an artist wasn’t seen as a viable way to make a living. So, I gave up on the idea of art school and chose a different major for university.

During my university years, I began drawing cartoons as a hobby in my spare time. As a devout Christian and a member of the Student Christian Movement Club, my cartoons often had a Christian theme and became quite popular. Many churches even used my cartoons in their weekly bulletins.

After graduation, I struggled to make ends meet and found myself with little time to pursue my art. I soon learned computer programming, which became my primary full-time job, and I spent most of my days and nights working for a private company to support myself.

In 2006, 15 years after middle school, I began thinking about fine art again as a hobby. However, my skills were limited to what I had learned in middle school. Nevertheless, I bought my first oil paints and tried painting landscapes and still lifes. However, life remained a rollercoaster, and with the financial pressures of early marriage, I eventually stopped painting.

A decade later, in 2016, I gave painting another try, this time with acrylics. This time, I found good teachers—mostly YouTube tutorials that offered helpful tips. I painted still lifes and portraits, and my skills gradually improved.

After the COVID-19 pandemic began, I started working from home as a computer programmer. In 2021, thanks to a set of oil paints my kids gave me for Christmas, I returned to painting. The set was from Hobby Lobby, with small tubes and many unfamiliar colors that quickly ran out, prompting me to buy new paints. At the time, I didn’t know what constituted a good brand, so I bought a set from Amazon and started painting again. My skills hadn’t advanced much, but I spent hours watching YouTube tutorials and practicing during the pandemic when there wasn’t much else to do.

In 2022, inspired by the works of John Singer Sargent, I painted several small portraits in oil, typically 8x10 inches. I also experimented with figurative works and discovered Egon Schiele’s paintings, which captivated me with his expressive lines and style. His approach is something I continue to pursue in my own work.

In July 2023, Sparrow Gallery in Denison invited me to showcase my work at the gallery, marking the beginning of my professional art career. Following that, I joined art guilds in Prosper and Frisco, TX, to connect with fellow artists. I’ve had the pleasure of sharing my work and learning from the vibrant artistic community around me.

Today, I create art using various media, including acrylics, paper collage, ink, and traditional oil paints on paper, wood panels, and canvas. I select the medium based on the subject I wish to paint, and I find joy in exploring and experimenting with different materials.

Although I am a self-taught artist and got a late start, I am thrilled to have returned to my passion, a dream I once abandoned but now fully embrace.