Connect What is your favorite type of art to create?

My favorite to create is the kind that cannot be planned. I walk into my studio, turn the music up loud, and dance until the outside world stays out. Then comes an intention, a color, a word. I stop trying to control where the painting goes and start listening to where it wants to take me. Just my hands, the oil, and something bigger than me. I'm not making these paintings so much as receiving them. When someone stands in front of one and feels understood, that is the moment I paint for.

Where do you find inspiration?

I find inspiration in skies, in sunrises and sunsets, in Turner's later works. In the beauty that goes unseen. In the vastness of the solar system, in the colors hidden inside a bird's feather, a flower, a single leaf. Nature is my greatest teacher and light is my oldest muse. Oracle cards guide my intention before I ever touch the canvas. I am always chasing that quality of light that makes you stop and catch your breath. That feeling is what I reach for every time.

What would you do with $25,000?

The first thing I would do is invest in my studio, fixing my backyard doors, upgrading my air filtration, and building proper storage for my paintings. Then I would stock up on oil paint, because the work never stops. And I would donate a portion to the Asian American Women Artists Association, an organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of Asian American women in the arts. Their mission matters deeply to me.