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There's something mesmerizing about Japanese characters. What started as simple language practice has evolved into an unexpected artistic ritual. Each day, I find myself drawn back to these pages of carefully practiced hiragana and katakana, now transformed into canvases for something entirely new.
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The process began simply enough – French in one notebook, Japanese in another. But those elegant Japanese characters kept calling to me, their forms suggesting shapes and stories beyond their literal meanings. Soon, I found myself painting over them, letting the structured rows of language practice become the foundation for unbridled artistic expression.
Some days, my inspiration comes from scrolling through Instagram, where other artists' work sparks something in my mind. Other days, the brushstrokes flow purely from whatever emotion or thought is consuming me at that moment. The Japanese characters peek through the layers of paint like whispers of structure beneath chaos, grounding each piece in this peculiar intersection of language and art.
These daily sketches have become more than just practice – they're a visual journal of my current state of being. Some pieces reflect my personal struggles and celebrations, while others respond to the larger world around us. There's something liberating about painting over these practice sheets; it's as if the act of repurposing them gives me permission to be more experimental, more honest in my expression.
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Lately, I've found myself in an unusual state of peace despite what others might see as uncertainty. No job (by choice), no immediate projects lined up – just a daily practice of creation and learning. My days are filled with machine learning tutorials, piano practice, language studies, and animation experiments. Some might call it scattered, but it feels like gathering tools for a toolkit I don't yet fully understand.
Am I building toward something specific, or simply following my curiosity? Perhaps both. These painted-over Japanese lessons have become a metaphor for my current path – structured learning transformed into something more fluid and personal. Each new skill I pursue feels like adding another color to my palette, another possible way to express whatever it is I'm meant to create.
For now, I'll continue this daily ritual of sketching over recycled language practice sheets, letting each piece capture whatever emerges in that moment. Whether it's a reflection of my inner world or a response to the greater one around us, each sketch feels like one step closer to that dreamy windmill by the shore – whatever that may represent.
In these moments of creation, the question of whether I'm doing too much or using my time well seems to fade away. What remains is the simple joy of making something new, of watching skills slowly accumulate like layers of paint over carefully practiced characters. Perhaps that's enough for now – to be in this flow of constant learning and creation, trusting that all these elements will someday converge into something uniquely meaningful.
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