I had lost my favorite person in the world, my Grandma of 95 years young. I owe all of my fiber arts career to her, in fact. She's the one who taught me to crochet, embroidery and sewing techniques. My go to person for everything. We used to enter our county fairs together. This past “Fair Season” was very quiet and sad. In the past we would call multiple times a day for weeks on updates, how we had butterflies of excitement about the items we entered and who won what in each fair category. Such wonderful and loving memories.

Many weeks, [my art] gets shoved to the side as other things take precedence. I have let the business side of my practice fall away for now. It has been a hard year of mourning my time to create, but also seeing the fruit of my child rearing. T

I can't believe it's already been a year since my article came out! I dubbed 2023 my "Yes" year when it came to my small art business and it did not disappoint. I tried things I've never done before, like selling my items on consignment, teaching watercolor classes and running small business meet ups with other like minded military spouses here on Kadena AB. I met and exceeded goals that I thought I wouldn't see for a couple of years still and I just feel so excited to see what the future holds!

When asked to give an update on my past year, the word reminisce comes to mind - and all of the past years seemed to gather into this one.

The main focus here in Europe has been harnessing inspiration, taking the time to experiment with my art, and learning new things.

Set yourself up for success with S. C. I. E. N. C. E., a group of principles identified by Dr. Sean Young, a behavioral psychologist, to help you stick with the behaviors that power lasting change through engrained processes.

I’m proud to have finished a major creative project this year. We Leapt Into the Sky is my first science fiction novel, and I decided to share it as an illustrated serial. I’ve enjoyed improving my landscape drawing skills over the past few years, and I wanted to use this project to teach myself how to create better sci-fi illustrations…

I’ve realized that as a military spouse, the journey of an artist becomes a canvas in itself, painted with the colors of change, resilience and adaptability. Moving from one duty station to another brings not only a change in surroundings but also a shift in studio space, access to materials and artistic routine.

A year ago, when I shared about Abby Maddy, I was more excited than ever to be moving in a new direction with the company. We began in January with a build-out of a studio space in our home that would allow me to work while juggling our two teenagers’ schedules. But just as I was getting the studio settled, and beginning to work on the spring launch, we received some unexpected news. On March 30, 2023, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

When we were younger we used to joke about the military divorce statistics – after nine years of marriage, we became one of them … Now my short story collection, Homefront, is about to be published by the University of Nevada Press, and it’s bringing back a lot of memories about those military years.

Wow, I can't believe it is time for my anniversary interview with the MilspoFAN blog, and so much has happened in just a year! Since my last post, I have landed an art teaching gig as a guest artist for the Anne Arundel Public Schools Art Magnet program- Apex Arts. But it was totally by accident …

Thanks for having me back on Milspofan, it's nice to say hi again. Things have been quite frenetic for us over the summer. My wife Sylvia received orders to RAF Lakenheath in England and that required us to spend a couple of months living out of our suitcases on the road. We are finally settled down in the lovely town of Newmarket, UK and things are starting to get back to normal…

My spouse is an airborne linguist, and just before the lockdowns, he was organizing language refreshers for the linguists in his squadron. But then the WHO reported these strange pneumonia cases from Wuhan. People around us started to get sick, and the Chinese linguists began worrying. Unfortunately, I already had a compromised immune system, and in March 2020, I got sick. Real sick.

It has been a while since I have been featured on Military Spouse Fine Art Network and I have been busy! My most recent showing was at the Salmagundi Club in New York City. I was accepted as an official Coast Guard Artist for their COGAP program…

I've been secretly writing a book since last December, and recently started a Blog on my website to document the progress. My first post - Embrace in Place (Coming Soon) - was just added and I’d love for you to follow and share! I am self publishing and that is in itself an adventure!

To expand on sharing my mixed family Korean-American experience, I’ve started my next children’s book series for Seoul Finds Her Talent with A Weekend with Halmony.

When I decided to start painting professionally, I scoured the internet for information on how to get my work out there and grow my business. I found tons of suggestions, but they didn’t explain the process.

My art practice continues to change and grow as I get older and develop new insights. With being a professional Dancer and teaching in the Hampton Roads area in Virginia, I am constantly around others who value the performing arts so it makes it easy to stay inspired and create. I am also finding how to integrate my art through other media as well. I am a photographer and have found my niche with dance and production photography.

“How’s that going for you”, you ask? It’s not. Now we’re in Monterey, CA. Three moves in three years. And here I thought all of this moving around was over. I also mistakenly thought that retirement meant that I could get back to, a more full-time focus on my career. Oh boy universe… or Murphy, or whoever you are… the joke is 100% on me.

On this anniversary check-in with MilspoFAN I feel I have fit years of living into the last 12 months. For the last year, my second diagnosis of breast cancer has felt like it was hijacking my artistic endeavors (I don’t recommend it). I had things I wanted to do! However, looking back, the last year has launched my artistic presence like never before.