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Hope on the Stage - The Final

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Seoul, as an introverted solo traveller

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Taipei

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24 Hours in Taipei

After 4 very intense but also relaxing weeks in Thailand, I caught a 2am flight to Taipei and arrived at 6:45am local time, yesterday. I slept a little in the taxi to the airport, and through most of the nearly four hour flight, so on arrival I was still exhausted but I could function. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to check into my hotel until much later in the afternoon, so I took a leisurely…

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Rescue Paws

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A Week in Thailand

It’s been a week since I first arrived. A week filled with… Recovery. Rest. Relaxation. Rediscovery. Reason. Resolve. In the weeks and months leading up to this trip I worked a lot. Likely too much, I was a little burnt out, fairly sleep deprived, and certainly in the last two weeks I wasn’t drawing or making any art. My first couple of days here I mostly slept outside of volunteering.…

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And So It Begins

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Thailand

Back in September 2024, I headed out to a country I’d never been to, to do something I had never done. And with every anxiety that built in me in the run up to this trip, all I could think was: If you can do it in Japan. You can do it anywhere. Now Japan is not a particularly scary country, and I am fairly certain that it’s one of the safest ones out there, and I will return again and again.…

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My 2025 Travel Plans: Exploring Japan, Korea, and Beyond

With my last trip to Japan being back in Spring ’23 I knew that I wanted to plan a return in 2025, and the original plan was to tie in a trip to Korea, being gone for about 2 months in total. After spending three weeks in Thailand at the end of last year, the plan changed drastically. I knew that the process for taking 2 months off work was the same as taking up to a year…

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The Journey of Two Years: From Japan to Beyond

Two years ago, I had just gotten back from a trip that changed my life entirely. At the beginning on 2022, I set a New Years Resolution and goal for myself to learn Japanese. It is the only New Years promise to myself that I have ever kept, and marked a decision to do something entirely for me. In February I came out of a long term relationship that wasn’t good for anyone involved and I didn’t…

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Interview With A Friend - Maddie, pt 3

The final part to this series of posts looking at Maddie’s adventures in Japan. Here we’re looking at Maddie’s favourite photos from her time in Japan and talking a little bit about the stories behind them. If you missed the first two parts go check out Interview With A Friend – Maddie, pt 1 and Maddie, pt 2. The Photos In talking to Maddie about doing something with a few of her favourite…

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On Location - Yasaka Shrine

April 2023 Rather than a big art day, this was more like an art morning, but as the Yasaka Shrine is smaller than both the Heian Shrine and Kiyomizudera I didn’t need as much time. I covered most of this in In the Sketchbook – Week Four in Japan but wanted to go into it in a little more detail. The entrance to the shrine is one of those recognisable landmarks in Kyoto that forms a central…

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Behind the Photo

This photo of sakura was taken in Nagoya while we were at the Aichi Expo Park. We were lucky to still be able to see cherry blossoms as most of them in Kyoto had finished blooming. Conner and I had first discovered green sakura blossoms at the Kyoto Botanical Gardens about a week before this so it was fun to see them again in a different setting and being able to show Maddie. There are over a…

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Artwork Spotlight - Kitsune

As we came across the beginnings for this piece in yesterday’s post I thought it would be worth connecting all the dots that led to this artwork. Like the Komainu piece that I did, this kitsune statue can be found at the Otoyo-jinja shrine in Kyoto. I loved the way these statues balanced with nature around them and that led to some really interesting textures with the brush pen. There was…

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In The Sketchbook - Week Six in Japan

Art made during my last week in Kyoto, from the 24th – 30th April. I didn’t create a huge amount of art this week as some of it was spent dealing with back pain or spending as much time with my friends as I could. On a day that I was particularly suffering with back pain I wanted to get out and at least try to move around. It took me a while, and I wasn’t getting anywhere fast. But I stopped at…

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Interview With A Friend - Maddie, pt 2

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Behind the Photo

Bigger posts are in the works – tomorrow I’ll be posting the next part to Interview With A Friend – Maddie, pt 1 but for now here’s another photo to dive into. This is from the last week of my trip back in Oct/Nov last year. Heading through Nara with Joe during golden hour. We’d just crossed through this gateway and a deer was following us so I stopped to get a quick photo. I just love the way…