An example of such a person is Miseon Lee who came to Limerick from Seoul, the capital city of Korea, three years ago to change her life and do what she really wants – to paint.

At the age of 49, she looks at least 20 years younger and is full of energy. In Korea, she used to work as art teacher. Work took up most of her time and energy, making it impossible for her to create. After many years of hard graft, Miseon finally has decided to change her life.

She gave up her job and decided to go to Ireland to search for success of being an artist. She had no English, so the first thing she did here was to take a course in Limerick Language Centre.

It took her a year to become more or less fluent. And then she started to paint. However, it turned out that she lost quite a few of her drawing skills in the move. Without regular practice, some of her talents faded. To get back in shape, she has decided to paint portraits.

"This is a good practice for me to remember what I forgot," she said. Miseon did not paint some people from the street, instead she decided to paint the faces of well-known people in the Limerick area.

As a regular guest of the White House poetry revival nights on O'Connell Street, she met many people: poets, journalists, musicians, politicians, and hard drinkers.

Miseon simply invited them to pose for a portrait, or if they were very busy, to simply take a picture of them, and later draw their portrait from it.

"I found it very difficult in the beginning to draw from a notebook instead of having real person in front of me, as it lacked some emotions. But later I even found it more useful, as people tend to move while posing and they have not as much free time for that," she said. After a considerable amount of work, Miseon took her portraits for the first solo exhibition in the city, titled Limerick Faces, this January in the Georgian House, Pery Square.

It was quite a success, as half of the paintings were snapped up. As a member of Limerick Art Society, she will participate in their Annual Group Exhibition next Tuesday in City Hall, where a few of her paintings will be presented.

Her own exhibition will take place on October 23 in Georgian House and will again consist mainly of portraits. But there also will be new drawings using different style. At the moment Miseon has an idea to draw a series of portraits of Irish rugby players.

"During the game they have so many emotions expressed on their faces. I will try to capture them in my paintings," she said. Success does not come easy. She works eight hours every day, including weekends, and cannot afford holidays. She has no other job, as drawing takes all her time, but she really enjoys it.

"I am still using my savings from Korea," she sighed. The value of Korean money has dropped in comparison to the euro, so i tmakes it even harder for her to pay her bills. Yet, she is hopeful.

"I believe one day I will make enough money for living from my paintings, but now it is only work." Miseon has many Irish friends and integration hasn't been a problem.

"I love Limerick, because it is tiny and beautiful. It is convenient for me after the busy life of a big city." However, recent laws in relation to foreign national have forced her 14 year-old son to move from a public to private school, which is a source of contention for the family.

She said he loved his old school and had many friends there. She has hired a solicitor to represent her son's desire to stay in her original school.

She said her message to society would be: "Give the equal right of education to all children! I wish they can study in every school they want. It is their right to be educated. They are our children and our future."

Miseon does not want to paint portraits for the rest of her life. She does not paint for money, but she can sell some of her work. "I am only 70 per cent happy with the quality of my work now. I am a very ambitious artist, and I can be successful if my painting are really good."

Miseon plans to stay in Limerick at least for two more years, until her son will finishes his school. But she looks forward to more time in this country if money and inspiration will allow. She will continue working and will try do as much as she can to impress Irish fans of fine art.