Wandering without destinations

Sometimes I wander. I have no destination beyond go out there maybe thataway. This past weekend I finally felt well enough to wander. I over did it as usual because just one more bend, hill, corner might be hiding something magical.

I often walk the world the same way that I cook. No recipe, zero directions, just keep going until the ancestors say stop, turn, sit, look. This has served me well I have had experiences and discovered places that I might not have if I followed a set path. 

I took pics I wanted to take pics for my socials. You know lively travel photos but I cannot do that. So I took pics for myself to remind me where I have been when I feel like I am not getting anywhere. I did some writing as well. I may put some of that in a blog some day.

Anyway here are pics I took for myself, maybe you will enjoy my memories of moments when the ancestors said "stop, look".

Life marches on

My birthday came and went. It was celebrated but not celebrated. I finally got my green card. So now I have a bank account, which lead to going today and getting a new phone. Now I finally exist here. No longer in a weird in between here but not here.

And yet...

Am I really here, or am I still floating through the multiverse trying to find my fit. Hard to say. I also caught some flu or something that turned into a horrendous sinus infection. I miss making art for myself, but I enjoy creating at work. I am just walking one foot after the other, not sure where I am going but its an adventure.

New year treats from parents. 

I will eventually take pics I can share, lately pics are of my students for their parents.

Farewell for now

💜

Hyperfocus and my artists life.

I have a super power called hyperfocus. It is also my kryptonite. Currently teaching and creating art lesson plans and curriculum are all consuming.

But I did sneak out to a wonderful book store. Also public art is everywhere.

Is this art? I dunno but its creative for sure.

And the more colonial style bronze in the town square.

Not much else. I hope to get out and take more photos as the weather warms and the days get a little longer.

Time to head to work.

how to buy my art

The internet makes it both easy and difficult to sell follow this link to find photos for sale. Eventually other art will get uploaded.

www.ArtPal.com/Villageshoppes

namjooning

It all starts and ends with art and exploration. I have this unstoppable urge to seek out art, galleries and new things. I think that is why the universe rewards me with wrong turns and no gps.

Somewhere in the middle of my adventure over the weekend I stumbled upon the most interesting street art to date. I had taken a wrong turn but didn't really care. Looking around trying to get my bearings I was confronted with what at first glance appeared to be garbage.

However as an artist who works in mixed media and uses trash to make my art, i was instantly drawn in.

The more I looked the more brilliant it was. I am enamored with this wall. I almost forgot to take any pics. But then realized i wanted to write about it.

Dont just scroll away. Take a moment and really look at what all is before you. Just pause and spend a moment looking for some treasure you lost as a child. Or maybe you see a painting that graced a family wall. Look closer do you see something you once treasured only to cast it away when it lost its sparkle?

I will end this writing here, in the middle of my story. I will stop just like the clocks in the photo. An infinite pause to take in a moment somewhere in the middle.

사랑해요

settling in

Lets start somewhere in the middle.

The first week was a whirlwind of familiarizing myself with my immediate neighborhood. And going to work each day to shadow and get an idea of how it works.

Let me start by saying these kiddos are incredible humans. They basically begin working 9-5 by age 3. I am not joking. They go to school from 9-5. They are happy, kind, silly and smart. Most of them are super interested in learning like most kids. 

We wear slippers at work. To be fair i see lots of slippers in the streets as well. You have indoor and outdoor slippers. Bags are something everyone carries, men women, kids, even dogs in strollers have bags. 

Food here is marvelous if overwhelming. Groceries are ridiculously expensive so same as back home when I left.

Weather has been super cold teens in F and super mild near 70F the day i arrived.

I have been taking pics and even done some drawing and painting. But i caught a cold so my week of break has been less travel and more watch kdramas and study korean with nearby short trips.

I have seen some local things. Behind my house is a hill with bronze age settlement remnants. This exact location has been used as home for a long long time. 

Across the street the other way is a new planned highrise development and the location of a new starfield mall. It was an unused military base. So here i sit sandwiched between the ancient and the modern.

I will try to drop a photo dump reel on tiktok and insta but have not had great luck recently.

Until the next installment

Travel images

I mentioned I often take photos to capture a place or to capture a moment how I view it. 

My memory is weird, my brain works different. I forget things that are not in my immediate spere of existence. Its not intentional it is just how it is. It is why I can struggle with names of people I meet until I see them enough times for it to stick.

Age has only made it more evident.

So often my pics are also one part my memory one part art.

 I knew I had gone to Korea, I recalled having a great time and certain things stuck. But when looking through my pics I would recall all the things I had forgotten because they werent in my current sphere. What I did know was I had to get back.

So on that note I am going to share some of the images from the trip that I took because I found them interesting. Others may find them less so, but for me each image connects to a memory that has already begun to return to the ether.

Leaving Seattle seeing the sound from above feels so strange 

Arriving in hawaii watching boats on the ocean below me

A dancers feet captured in bronze.

In the airport because of course.

Pianos are common in airports and other public spaces. This was in the airport in Japan and a woman had stopped and played not long after I took this picture. I love the no lounging sign on the wall. This section of the airport they didnt want people sleeping.

Blurred images out a window on a rainy morning. At once familiar in an unfamiliar place.

An empty bus station, shelter from the rain. It could be anywhere.

Traces of trees as if the memory is fading mid photo.

I will write more in another blog post and add images. For those friends who were interested, I will try to keep this up and of course my instagram always has images going up.