It's graduation season, so I think parents will be very busy. In my case, As soon as the second daughter's graduation ceremony is over, I must prepare an older son's prom party and graduation ceremony. Working as an artist while supporting families and raising children is a hardship that I cannot share anywhere. If I have enough time, if I have two hours a day to immerse myself in something and complete it, I think it will create a better environment for making something. But to me, two hours a day, just for me, is a luxury like an unnecessary excessive accessory. So I try to earn time to work day by day with a desperate heart like a soldier who goes to war. But after fighting this kind of war several times, it seems that I have my trick. So, I tend to allocate my time much more easily than before and work. For example, in a month with many busy events, such as June, I usually choose small tasks to draw at once. So yesterday I painted an orange rose. Yesterday's work was significant because I had to draw roses one by one on paper whenever I had free time to open a paint flower shop later. 
​
 Today, I would like to show you the procedure I drew with pictures briefly. 
 Orange is a vibrant and fiery color that represents life, energy, passion, and excitement. "Orange roses are a symbol of energy and enthusiasm. These bright flowers will immediately raise the energy in a room. You might find yourself more motivated." (Posted in History, Hunter's Special, Orange rose, Symbolism)
  I chose the orange color to convey bright vitality, energy, and joy to someone. And I sketched with a 2H drawing pencil, as shown below. The tip is to draw without making a mistake once drawing because it uses a rough texture and paper color as the background without painting the background separately. If I make mistakes often and leave traces of pencil lines and erased marks, not painting the background becomes meaningless and messy. Therefore, I had to concentrate all my attention when drawing the sketch. I drew a rose, but the flower part was as beautiful and vivid as possible, and the stem was twisted and natural. Because in the philosophy of my paintings, beauty, and the pain to create that beauty always coexist. The shadow beneath the twisted stem is the good life we have always imagined.

 ​ Then, I took out a watercolor pencil and drew the second sketch as shown below. ​At this time, the already calculated shadow is added.

 ​ Then, I put water on the brush and arranged the color of the rose step by step.

 ​Next, considering the light coming in as a highlight, I mixed acrylic paint with white, white, and orange and then painted the bright part using a light orange color.

 ​ Now, as the next step, I used red and dark orange to arrange the dark shades as shown below.

 ​I painted the floor of this orange rose. First, touch the bottom with acrylic using a flat brush.

  Then, carefully sprinkle thin, shiny shards on it. At first glance, I felt like a part of the reflected light of the orange roses. ​It is from the hope that our lives will be able to twinkle innumerable in the countless ups and downs.

   ​Below is the finished state with pixative applied. ​This is a state that is completed to the signing of the identity in the last picture.

  ​And at the bottom is the packaging before finding its real owner.

 Among the lyrics of the song "You are reflected in the smile of Shin Seung-hoon," a Korean singer, there is the following text.
You may not be beautiful than a rose
But your scent is stronger
You may not be brighter than moon
But you’re warmer
Looking at your picture on the table
I sadly call out for you but you just
Stare back at me wordlessly with a smile as always

This paper orange rose may not be as beautiful as a real rose, but I hope that the fragrance conveyed through this painting will come out and make your day lively.

 ​Today, I attended the graduation ceremony for my daughter's Pre-K. Yesterday we received the latest updated notice from the school district stating that it is okay to hold a large gathering, not wearing a mask, and not keeping 6 feet apart. Compared to the situation last year where no event could be held, I am grateful for today's extraordinary situation. Before the ceremony, my husband, who was sitting next to me, asked me to look at the sky for a moment. ​It wasn't even after it rained, but I can see a rainbow around the bright sunlight. 

 Like a rainbow , I hope that the same pain as last year will no longer occur. ​I hope that all children can learn without masks, play safely, and grow up without worries. 

 With the start of the event with a large number of people, a welcome email arrived from the Art Expo booth director. It will be held three weeks earlier than previously planned. 

 Artexpo New York will host over 400+ innovative exhibiting artists, galleries, and publishers from across the globe, showcasing exciting original artwork, prints, paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography, ceramics, giclee, lithographs, glass works, and more-all under one roof.

 Last year, I had a good opportunity to exhibit one of my paintings at the Expo booth through the  2019  online art competition hosted by Circle Foundation For the Arts. (Circle-Arts.com) The winning picture was a small picture titled " Small enough to hide". 

   The magpie is a bird of the crow subordinate. It is a symbol of good luck in Korea because of its unique cleverness, the pretty pattern of black and white, and the unusually loud cries. In folk beliefs, it is introduced as a representative auspicious person in Korea, such as welcoming guests when a magpie cries  or playing the role of a tooth fairy who brings new teeth to old teeth. It is also a messenger that brings good luck and good news.

  When I was a kid, it was really interesting to see people welcome this little bird with a symbol like that. It's just a small bird, but the Koreans put this bird's name on it and sang it for generations. 
 "Magpie  ! Magpie!  New Year’s Day is yesterday. Our New Year’s Day is today." 
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Actually, this song was written for Korean children in 1924 by Korean teacher Yoon Geuk-young 100 years ago. It was made for the children of this land, who had only Japanese songs during the Japanese colonial era, hoping for a new day even in the dark times.

 The magpie was a bird that conveyed a message of hope to Koreans, who suffered from the domination of the great powers and lived without any hope, to wait for good news, especially for children in Korea. 

  I wanted to capture the hope that this little bird conveyed one day. With the most Korean colors, I drew it with only black and white at once. This little bird is in fact so petty and weak that it has no presence. It doesn't stand out and is always small enough to hide in a corner. But when this bird sits on a weak branch like itself and cries loudly, its bright and hopeful energy fills the whole world. Just as Korean children at that time overcame the pain of the present when they saw this little bird, the lessons that small things give are always strong. 

  Unfortunately, a pandemic has occurred when we heard that this painting will be exhibited at the 2020 New York Expo. The coronavirus has literally gone out of sight and continued to hide, sending many messages of fear and despair. Especially our 4 year old daughter was very afraid. ​It was probably the most difficult for the children who did not know the meaning about pandemic and, were locked up in the house and listening to their parents' conversations.

I failed to convey the message of hope that this little bird gives through my paintings in 2020, but I hope that message will be delivered again at the Expo exhibition hall that is newly opened after the pandemic.

  For the first exhibition in New York in 2014, I prepared about 20 paintings. Of the 20 paintings, 5 were brought from Germany, and the remaining 15 were painted after moving to the United States in 2013. When I look at the paintings, I can feel the traces of struggling to find meaning in loneliness, mainly at night. I can freely express the objects regardless of light because I have primarily drawn images in dreams or imaginations rather than objects that exist in reality. Post-Impressionist painters would have ran out of the studio with an easel to express objects that change from moment to moment depending on their angle of light. In the early days, I also longed for the angle of light and the mystery and splendor of light, so I tried to draw the reflected light. But one day, I was in a dream and saw a color that did not exist in the world.

 As you know, in the dream space, there were no lamp or sun to scatter light. How can color exist without light? And then what does it mean the seeing the object?  Is the color I remember unconsciously appear in my dreams? It was the first time I saw those colors that didn't really exist in the world. When I had read the Bible, I found the phrase to describe angels that there is  such white color that the white color of the world cannot express. "

  "After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them.  His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. (Mark 9:2-3)"

  No matter how much people in the world whiten it, the color white cannot be made so white. There really was such a color. From then on, I got a goal. It's not perfect, but I have a desire to try my best to express it. ​I will be delighted to tell the world about the colors I saw at that time in my dream and show them that feeling.  I know how difficult it is, but I decided to think hard and study hard. Since then, a night without light has been a good subject. ​And sometimes, emotions and energy that cannot be explained in the sunshine are found at night. 

 The night is the time when all the splendor of the world shown while the sun was rising is temporarily extinguished. A famous actress told that she received spotlights and praise from people, returned home from work, and opened the door to her house, she saw a dark and empty room, and  got easily depressed from the silence and emptiness. The scene with the lights turned off showing the splendor and beauty of life in detail is lonely and empty just looking at it. In the loneliness and silence of the darkness, I expressed the feelings experienced at night by a person who leaves his hometown and ventures to a new place. 

 In a foreign land, no one knows that we were once the twinkling people of our homeland. No, maybe no one is interested, and I don't know if the answer is correct. But, one day, this fact comes one day with feelings of nostalgia, loneliness, and emptiness after a certain amount of time has passed after leaving home and living with new challenges. 

 At night, the bustling noises of the world disappear naturally, and only then can you entirely focus on yourself. Ironically, the truth is that the self that is wholly felt without all the trophies or accessories in the world is the true ego. Perhaps the loneliness and emptiness you feel at times like this are the original feelings that are not decorated. That's all right, you don't need too much to decorate it by force. Sometimes you just have to accept it and let those thoughts flow naturally. It's like quietly taking a breather before tomorrow's brilliant morning. Time passes, and everything in the world changes. The darkness and pain that seem to stay in my heart forever will disappear without a trace someday. 

 In the Bible, Jacob was driven out by his brother Esau and wandered in the wilderness, and he could not find a place to lie down for a while, so he slept on a stone pillow at night. Then he saw the angels ascend and descend on the beautiful stairway to heaven in his dream, and he awoke and set a stone boulder. In fact, there was a stairway to heaven wherever Jacob went without having to mark it with a stone. It just wasn't visible. 
One part of this story is the motif of the two pictures above. 

 I hope that these two paintings will display on the house, giving them such a happy and radiant energy wherever they are and at any time.

​When I had my first exhibition in Germany, I never dreamed that I would sell my work. I was so just excited because of that warm heart that just came to my first exhibition, looked at my paintings, and gave good reviews. Visitors looked at the pictures with clear eyes and an innocent posture as if a baby were curious about the world. I found them more beautiful than any other work. Then, in my first exhibition, I sold my first work, and the painting below was an acrylic painting titled Overlap. It was a long time ago, but I do remember. He was a retired civil officer, and he loved buying and collecting paintings as a hobby. When he purchased the picture, he said he wanted to buy it because there was something special.
I am still grateful that it was the first work I sold after making my debut as a painter. Since then, I've sold many paintings, but I think the memories of that time are the most memorable, like my first love. 

​Since then, I feel that I have grown more mature than I was at that time through the process of painting, exhibiting, and selling paintings. Instead of feeling excited about selling pictures, it has turned into concerns and prayers about whether the work will find a good owner. I hope that my paintings will be hung up on happily by meeting a kind-hearted person who knows the value of art and work and receives attention and love. Perhaps these feelings are similar to the feelings of parents who sent their daughters in marriage. And I wish that all the families living in the house where the picture is hung live life with much happiness and joy.

Someone once told me that she couldn't paint anymore because she was afraid that her painting would rot in the storage. I understand her mind. However, as more I draw, there comes a moment when I feel free more from this mind. It is because I have experienced that each painting meets its owner by its own time and coincidence. The process are miraculous and beautiful, and sometimes it's more fun than drawing. 

Yesterday, the two works met their master and went on a trip to the owner's house. The owner is the person I want to learn from his life story, who has built,  grown a financial company from A to z with her own hands.
You probably know how hard it can be to run a business and run a company. I have a lot of respect for them. Because even running a small family is often overwhelming. He, too, faced difficulties in his business, but he overcame them with his unique tenacity and perseverance. Above all, he is an artist who takes his photos, collects works, and creates theories with his philosophy. Like the fundamental spirit of community art, he is already a great artist in that he enriches the lives of others with what he has and shares it with others. I guess that creativity and publicity probably helped a lot in business. He has been working on transforming texts such as poetry and mathematical theories into artistic images. This attempt is fascinating, and when I have time, I will post it in the corner of math and art. 

  Among the paintings sold this time, the one on the left, "The colors of fall"  is a work that captures the splendor and strength of autumn and the calm energy on canvas. It seemed as if the leaves of autumn or flowers were exhibiting to the world in various beautiful colors such as yellow, orange, brown, and deep red by maturing their youthful and lovely times in spring and summer before winter came. Just as many people take pictures to keep a specific object or memory in mind for a longer time, the color of autumn is also shown as its color because they want to preserve the splendid past time. And in other words, it isn't easy to possess the energy and color that the colors of autumn convey to us, just as the beauty cannot be expressed even when taken in a photograph. So, I wanted to draw a little bit of the energy and beauty of that moment with the heart of keeping the beautiful fall.

The picture on the right is "overcome", literally overcome. Since my first debut in 2011, whenever I feel such energy from a tree, I immediately put it on canvas and create a series under the name of Overcome. I always think intense energy when I see a tree standing beautifully, bending, moving, and dropping its most substantial part to persevere and overcome the hardships of many years.
Like our life, it is distorted, broken, bent, and shaken by many winds and rains, but we will live again and somehow overcome it and grow into one big tree. The shapes that he overcomes by himself are so beautiful that they simply become works of art.  People are crouching like that tree in fear of being hit by the rain and wind in life. Then they think once in a while, "I can get up and show off again with my back straight." But he learns that life is real and not fantastic. It doesn't pay as much as the effort, and it's strangely unfair to anyone. At that time, like the tree of Overcome, it seems impossible to get up. Rather, it grabs the stone on the floor and digs deeper into the stone. But after many years, looking at the tree itself becomes art. The traces of years of hard work, perseverance, and concession to win are solidified as they are. When people see such a tree, they feel strong energy. And the transmitted will to live tells others the meaning of life. Even if it is twisted, it does not show off, and it does not matter if it bends in the wind and rain. We will one day stand up again, like the trees of Overcome. And those movements will be deeply engraved on our faces, attitudes, careers and voices in our lives. And that history itself becomes a work of art.

I hope that these two pieces will radiate a lot of happy energy from the owner's house. ​ And once again, thank you to those who love art and know the value of art and purchased it.

  ​When I first thought about becoming a painter while painting and exhibiting, I really didn't know that I would continue to paint for such a long time. ​ I was well aware that exhibition opportunities are not easily given just by looking for them. After the first exhibition, I took a list of all the galleries in Karlsruhe, where I live. At that time, there were 16 exhibitable galleries. An excellent opportunity for painters to show their paintings to people was primarily through galleries, and online exhibitions were not as common as today. Some galleries took care of everything from exhibitions to public relations for a certain amount of money. But what kind of money did the poor international student's wife have to have a leisurely exhibition? I couldn't afford that, so I had to look for a place to only look at my works and exhibit them for free. I had to look for a place where I could only see and exhibit my works for free, but few places welcomed a foreign woman who did not even graduate from art school. However, there were always grateful people who showed good reviews for my paintings and were willing to exhibit them. Such a chance was so miraculous for me. But even though I got a great opportunity from grateful people, there are many obstacles. If the evaluation of the work is not good, does not sell well, or does not lead to other exhibitions, it isn't easy to go to the end of life as an artist. 

  I like doing things consistently. So, I keep painting like the same a pray out of sight. When I was in middle school, I gave a speech as a candidate for the election for the class president. I was a not-cool girl, often ill, and a weak middle school student. At that time, candidates were selected based on grades to participate as strong candidates. Anyway, in my class president election speech, I said this. " Guys, I'm not the kind of person to be the class president. Instead of me, hire someone who is more capable and does a better job than me. I'm not going to pick me either."  I thought no one would use my name in that election. But to my surprise, one person chose me. I later asked my close friends if they had written my name, but they all said no. It was a bitter experience, but strangely for me, it gave me a lot of strength in my life because I knew then that at least one person would always be on my side, no matter what the circumstances. And I realized no matter what I do since then, really at least one person has been standing by my side. 

  When I work for at least one person like I do anything, I unknowingly generate energy and keep doing it. Among the songs, I like Park Jin-young, a well-known Korean singer and producer, "Even After 10 Years". 

Yes, I'm fine if only you like that person
I can smile and let you go

But why do I keep meeting other people?
I'm just saying I'll forget you easily.

*Look at me, wait, even after ten years have passed
I will only love you*

yes, I'm okay even if you leave
I'm fine, and love will continue even if I'm alone
But why does our love keep coming soon
You say it will be a faded memory
it is not so

Wait, what is ten years until the day I die.

 Park Jin-young, a wonderful singer who wrote and sang this song, divorced and remarried after ten years, but anyway, there is the power to pass ten years. If the power to run for such a long time does not exist, there may not be any painters who run after the invisible sensibility. It seems that such a force is passion, or love, for work. For me, it's the love of painting. The energy of that love creates steadiness, and the steadiness keeps the path going. 

 I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." - Bruce Lee 

 I want to become a person who practices one kick ten thousand times. 

One day in the past, on a trip to Rome, Italy, I saw an artist who was so great that it was a turning point in my life. People were sitting cooling off in front of a fountain in a small town square in Rome. A white-haired old man was showing his finger puppet show on the mobile theater he had carefully built right in front of the place. It was a hot day, and also the tourist was busy taking pictures of the surroundings, so they did not pay much attention to the old man's play. He was sweating, and no one was watching, but he put all his heart into his play. After finishing his performance, he hand out a piece of paper to those around him. Inside that piece of paper, the following phrases were written in several languages. 

 " Just be yourself and nobody will ever be able to tell you that you've done it wrong."

 It was also written in Korean, friendly and kind. The moment I saw the paper, I felt like a bell was ringing in my head. It was as if he was urging me, who was wandering without finding my way, to hurry.

 I am on the same path like him now, thanks to that beautiful and brave artist. And I still have that paper. More than ten years have passed, and the piece is now in tatters. ​But the message he gives becomes clearer in my life.

As time goes by, 2014, Myungja Anna Koh

  "You make me smile" to introduce through this member show is a digital painting. Due to the sudden and unexpected pandemic last year, many people lost their laughter and hope. We are slowly returning to our daily lives, but we still have wounds, anxiety, and fears in our hearts. This painting is an expression of the little smile my 4-year-old daughter showed me when the coronavirus peaked last year. When I heard the depressing news, I looked at the pictures stored on my phone, and my daughter took her selfie unwittingly. As soon as I saw the photo, I laughed out loud. Then I drew it digitally in the hope that everyone would laugh again. And like this laughter, I hope that we will soon find our pre-corona daily life ultimately. 
​
 Psychologist Sigmund Freud once said, "Humor is an adult sense of liberation that brings us back to the playful state of mind of infancy."  A childlike laugh and humor like this make a bleak life happy. In 2019,  In Korea, among the travel photos that people took while traveling, they collected and exhibited pictures that made people laugh. 

 In this attempt by the brave people, the people who looked at the photos had fun together. Now, like in 2019, it has become a hope that we will be able to return to our daily life and get these travel photos again, but we believe that we will find laughter again.

 Community art has the position that 'cultural art is a right that everyone should enjoy as a human being. It is not the exclusive property of a small group of experts (professional artists or elites).'  We insist that true art is only paying attention to the person's life and allowing them to improve their abilities to positively impact others' lives.

 Joseph Beuys, a representative activist of community art, said, "Everyone is an artist. Because everyone has the creative ability to live and improve their lives." Michelle, our neighbor is also a local artist with this wonderful community project in this regard. And everyone who shows little art seeds like Michelle is an artist. I hope that there will be more such people in the community so that our lives will be happier and full of joy.


About Joseph Beuys's project.
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“Everyone is an artist,” Political Activism, 7000 OaksDuring the 1970s, Beuys focused much of his energy on political activism, helping to found such groups as the German Student Party, the Free International University, and the Green party, whose goals included worldwide disarmament, educational reform, and environmental stewardship. His well-known slogan, “Everyone is an artist,” was meant to suggest that social transformation could be achieved if every human being applied his or her creative energies toward positive change in cooperative activities he called “social sculptures.” His most famous of these was 7000 Oaks (1982), a massive reforestation project in which seven thousand trees were planted throughout Germany, particularly in areas destroyed by bombing during World War II. In 1997, in homage to his idea, the Walker Art Center oversaw the planting of more than 1,000 young trees in Cass Lake, St. Paul, and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.  


Reference : 
​http://www.welfareissue.com
https://walkerart.org/collections/artists/joseph-beuys