March 22, 2015
Most people know me as an artist. That is understandable—I spent more than fifteen years formally trained, professionally practicing, and publicly presenting myself as one. It is what I earned my degree in, and where the majority of my visible work has lived.
What has taken longer to articulate—both to others and to myself—is that I am also a writer.
Writing was never absent from my life. It existed quietly, persistently, in the background for many years. I wrote privately, instinctively, without consciously naming it as a path I intended to pursue. Only in more recent years did I begin to recognize that writing was not an accessory to my creative life, but an integral part of it.
For the last several years, I have been working on a project that has lived in my imagination for nearly two decades. It has grown slowly and organically—what began as a single idea has expanded into a larger narrative world, and ultimately into a novel that has since become a series in the making. The process has been both exhilarating and intimidating.
When people asked what I was working on, expecting to hear about paintings or drawings, there was often a moment of confusion when I answered, “I’ve been writing.” That pause reflected my own internal adjustment as much as theirs. I had spent years learning how to speak fluently about my art, but I was only beginning to find language for my writing.
It was during this period of reflection that I realized the most natural way to bridge this gap was not by choosing one identity over the other—but by acknowledging that they were already deeply connected.
The kind of art I am most drawn to is narrative art—art that tells a story. Likewise, my writing is intensely visual. The creative processes of drawing, painting, and writing are not separate for me; they are parallel expressions of the same impulse. Story is the common thread.
As a lighthearted illustration of this idea, I often think of Gaston’s line to Belle in Beauty and the Beast: “How can you read this? There are no pictures.”
My answer is simple: I intend to illustrate my novel.
This convergence of art and writing is where the idea for this blog truly began. When I spoke about my writing through the lens of my art—illustrations, characters, visual worlds—it suddenly became easier to share. I realized I needed a space where both could exist together, where story and image could develop side by side in anticipation of eventual publication.
Starting a blog still felt daunting. I had kept my writing private for a long time, and the idea of maintaining a public platform was unfamiliar territory. My confidence wavered between excitement and fear, and I half-jokingly referred to the project as Reluctant Blogging. In truth, this space represents a deliberate step toward overcoming fear by choosing participation over silence.
You can read more about that decision in my earlier post on reluctant blogging.
Here, I will be sharing work and reflections across several interconnected areas:
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Visual art and illustration
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Writing and storytelling
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Mythology, which deeply informs my creative world
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Updates and insights into current projects
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Personal reflections on creativity, inspiration, and process
At its core, this blog exists for three reasons:
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To share my creative work
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To continue choosing courage over fear
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To connect with others who value story, beauty, and imagination
This is not a departure from what I have been—it is a convergence.
