Art Ambitions for 2026

It always takes me a little bit to settle into the new year. Over the holidays, I tried to rest and read a book or two between some skiing and all the holiday activities. I’m trying to find focus, identify goals and dreams for the year ahead, and warm up for larger pieces with thumbnails in my sketchbook. 

Some things I'd like to create this year:

• Two collections of four paintings each (a BIG goal for me - the most I’ve painted since 2018). One for the New River Gorge and one for Tucker County. I've set deadlines for myself for this one. 
• Gift tags and holiday cards. I bought a gift tag punch and it’s been fun to play with creating tags from old misprints. I'd like to make some holiday themed ones as well. I like the idea of holiday cards featuring some wintery foliage from WV, like Mountain Ash, Winterberry, Spruce Cones, etc. 
• We get some great sunset views from my backyard. I have always wanted to do a daily sunset painting - maybe I can try this for a while this year!
• I would love to paint some large beach scenes. 
• Maybe some mini framed originals could be fun! 

In the Studio...

For Christmas, my husband bought me "The Art of the Limited Palette" by Hazel Soan. I have learned so much from this book, one thing being that I need to use transparent pigments to make the darkest darks instead of opaque pigments. In the end, this led to purchasing a few more paints.

Some new supplies that I'm eager to try:

• 1/2” gator board for stretching my watercolor paper.
• New Schminke paint pigments, as suggested in the Limited Palette book mentioned above.
• Rigger brushes. Known historically for painting ship rigging (the system of ropes/cables and hardware that support a sailboat mast) but I’ll be using them to paint trees.
• Quill/Mop brushes. I’ll be using these for trees as well.
• Cold Wax Medium. I want to try mounting small watercolors on wood panel, then protecting them with a wax finish.

Print of the Month (February 2026): 
North Fork Mountain View from Chimney Top

I want to share more of the stories behind my old pieces as I create new ones. 

I highly recommend hiking North Fork Mountain Trail. This stunning and unique vista is not far from Seneca Rocks and the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area. We hiked to this view in January 2020.

I love the spruce trees at the tops of these formations and had to make sure a spruce cone made it into the piece. I started painting this in 2020 right before everything shut down. This was the first of a set of paintings through 2021 that all have a similar blue, green, and lavender pastel element. While the reference photos were taken in January, this piece has a spring feel to me.

Shop the North Fork Mountain Trail Print