Getting Back Into the Studio: Notes from My Watercolor Practice
Studio Notes Volume 01 | January 15, 2026
Inside the Studio
Ahhh the smell of 2026! The air is crisp, the planner is new, and it’s time to get things going again. Did you have a good holiday season? Vasya and I took a three week tour of the country, driving east to rock climb in West Virginia (I did more hibernating in the Airbnb than climbing since it was cold and snowy) and then we saw friends in Alexandria, VA and Newark, DE, and then off to see our families in Kingston, RI (my family for Christmas) and then Nashua, NH (Vasya's family for New Year's). I'm not in a hurry to go on another road trip any time soon, but it was nice to see family and friends since we normally make a point not to travel around the holidays. I also soaked up all of the New England charm that I could!
A historic home in Essex, CT.
Narragansett Beach, RI.
After all of the traveling and driving, I was very ready to head home and get back into my studio. Things are always a bit awkward when I try to get back into a routine. This year, I have tried to take things a bit slower and to be really intentional about what systems I am setting up at the start of the year, so that I do not hit a wall by the time May rolls around like I did last year. I've been spending time on painting and drawing a lot of minis to get into a creative flow and while I have some goals to paint a lot larger this year, there is something about this tiny size that I keep coming back to over and over again.
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Goal Setting
As my rhythm is starting to return, I am deep into finalizing my goals for the year. I am one of those people that love the energy of a new year. I love annual planning, organizational tools, setting goals, and dreaming big. Some top of mind goals this year include:
✨ Update my website. I'm so proud of the website I got up a few years ago, but I feel like I have evolved enough that it needs a refresh.
✨ Create two organized painting collections. I want to create a cohesive body of work rather than the one and done way I usually work.
✨ Take Immersion again as an alumni. I took first took this course in 2024 and it had a huge impact on my work and my life. I can take the course at a discount and I feel like I want the refresher to build on my technical skills and I have wanted to create a climbing-themed collection since I started learning about pattern design and I think taking the course will give me the focused time and feedback to do that collection really well.
As I share these goals with you, 2026 feels like it is going to be a big year for me. I really can't describe exactly how, but this year just feels different, and I can't to share how it all unfolds! Tell me about your goals for 2026 down in the comments.
In the Wild
The outdoors are such a source of inspiration for all of the artwork I create, whether original paintings or the patterns I design. It is not unusual to find me in an awkward position on a hike trying to capture something interesting with my camera.
While we were in West Virginia in December I went on an early morning snowy solo hike and was mesmerized by these delicate ice formations that decorated the trail. According to the internet, this phenomenon is called needle ice and it actually needs very specific conditions in order to form. You get needle ice when the air temperature drops below freezing, but the soil temperature remains just above freezing, allowing liquid water in the soil to be drawn to the surface by capillary action and freeze into these fragile spires, often overnight (crowspath.org). So cool! This feels like something that will make it into one of my patterns one day.
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Book Rec: When I choose a word of the year, I always like to pick a book to help me set the tone for the year. To help me deconstruct what my word of visibility was going to mean in 2026, I read Jen Gottlieb's book Be Seen: Find Your Voice. Build Your Brand. Live Your Dream. It was just the right combination of encouragement, tactics, and tough love to start out my year
Watch List: Vasya and I just started watching season 1 of The Morning Show. We are only a few episodes in, but both of us are hooked.
Podcast Episode: If You Don’t Quit, You Can’t Lose (The Jasmine Star Show). I'm a new listener to Jasmine Star, but even though she is talking to people with way bigger businesses than I do, I always find little nuggets to apply to my own business or life.
Introducing Pattern Tuesday
In keeping with my word of the year, visibility, I'm trying to, quite literally, show my face more often on Instagram and chat about what I am working on. I just dropped my first Pattern Tuesday post this week. Pattern Tuesday is going to be a weekly installment where I start talking about the surface pattern design side of my creative business. We’re talking how I find inspiration, to creating the artwork, to designing the patterns in Adobe Illustrator, to seeing those designs on fabric, wallpaper, and more. We are definitely in messy beginnings stages (could I be any more awkward?? 😬), but I'm excited to bring you behind-the-scenes for how I turn my artwork in patterns for products. If there are questions you want me to answer or things you want to see, let me know down in the comments.