Today is May 10, 2026. I am writing this on vacation from the Philippines, while finalizing the details of my online art academy. I sit at a small table in front of the sea, while my partner prepares coffee. It seems like a dream. And it is. But getting here took me eight years of falls that seemed definitive.
The origin of the dream (2018)
In 2018 I understood something that changed my life: if I wanted to teach art as it really should be - with practice, research and respect for the student - I could not continue in traditional classrooms. I had been a teacher since 2007, first in public and then private schools. I saw how the visual arts were used as "storage" for students who had already given up. I myself began to give up.
In 2023 I gave up for the last time the possibility of finding a school that would take my route. That's why I founded my online art academy. This online art academy is intended for homeschoolers and adults.
What no one sees when someone persists
Between 2023 and 2025 came the hard knocks:
- Jobs that did not satisfy my soul and damaged my health.
- A failed marriage that exposed my life to real danger.
- Multiplehomelessness.
None of that stopped me... it only slowed me down. And from each of those dark nights I learned lessons that I now want to teach you in my digital and traditional art academy. In my online art academy, there are no surrendered students, only artists on the way.
The turning point (February 2026)
On my birthday days, just three months ago, I decided that I needed to live, not just survive. I bought a ticket to the Philippines. I had two motives:
- To meet a very special woman who lives here, whom I met while I was in Houston.
- Visit animation studios that friends use for their international projects.
This woman - strong, sensual, determined, humble, inspiring - has received me as I never imagined. She treats me like a king and makes me feel that everything I lived through was to give her the man who was reborn after every fall. She not only opened the doors of her life and her country to me, but she reminded me why art matters: because it connects people who would never have met. In my online art academy, I want to create those kinds of connections.
What I have achieved in the last week
Here in the Philippines, slowly but surely, I have finished:
- The membership levels of the academy.
- The sales pages of each level.
- Connecting NAEA (National Art Educators Association of America) standards to my online art academy courses, especially for families homeschool.
- Forum systems, thinking about the protection of minors while they learn.
The academy remains closed until the end of May, early June 2026 (coming soon), but the wheels are already turning. And they are turning solidly.
If you are in the middle of a storm today
I want you to know something: perseverance and patience are not pretty virtues that adorn a résumé. They are survival weapons. And they work.
You don't need to have a straight path. You just need to not wipe yourself off the map.
What's next?
The future looks very attractive. I will design courses that mix traditional materials (pencil, paper, brushes) with digital tools (iPad, Android, Surface). And I will do it from practice, research and the affection that I could not give in classrooms that turned me off.
This way we go. She and I.
📢 Do you want to follow this story and be among the first to enter when the academy opens its doors (virtual and in-person)?
For now, I ask only two things of you:
- Save this page and come back to read this post in a month's time. You will see how we move forward.
- Leave me a comment or write me an email, telling me what life lesson art has taught you.
Very soon I will be launching a newsletter with news, anticipated course dates and reflections like this one. If you want to receive it, just let me know in an email with the subject "NEWSLETTER" and I will add you manually.
Thank you for reading this far. Your perseverance counts too.