Even if I'm called the Picasso of photography, what I've longed for all this time was to paint. I don't know why I put it off for so long. I was like a clock with a dying battery, its second hand twitching repeatedly in place.

I grew up looking at Abstract Expressionism and the paintings of Jackson Pollock. With his action painting, he became synonymous with the movement and was dubbed 'Jack the Dripper.'

No one dared imitate his style. It was so deeply ingrained in the culture that the best anyone could do was attempt something resembling it—never quite the way he did.

Without realizing when it began, I've been walking the path of finding myself. Right now, I just want to paint.

I had to ask myself if I had the talent to draw. So I sat down and drew an old slipper. I could do it!

Back in college, in a painting class, I painted my Korean surname, 'Yoo,' and my professor loved it. But that was where it ended.

Now in my sixties, a burning desire to paint flared up, but I had no idea where to start. All I had to do was buy a canvas and some paint and just do it! But then, what colors should I buy? How large should the canvas be? What do I actually want to paint? These trivial thoughts drove me crazy. So I kept putting it off. For years, in fact.

One thing I learned in art school was to leave things to chance—to let the unexpected happen. Looking back, that's how I've lived my entire life.

To promote a product, I had made a 4x1 meter banner and hung it outside my house. Then, one stormy day, the wind tore it down. I was left with this giant banner that had cost me a fortune to make. In that moment, it hit me: this could be my canvas. Just buy some black and white house paint and go at it like Jackson Pollock.

The sudden idea fired me up enough to get moving. I went out and bought black water-based paint and a large brush. I picked water-based because it wouldn't require paint thinner. Then I remembered painting with tree branches back in my thirties. The tools didn't matter. It's just like photography—what matters is what you do with the tool.

On Sunday, when even God rested, I will begin my 'action.'