Notes from the Studio: November 2025

Ornament Factory Underway

I’m so grateful for everyone’s response to the ornaments' return! I have been making batches of ornaments all month long.

I teased the ornaments last month hoping that I could get everything to work and figured I’d tell a story about failure if it didn’t. I painted the design over a week, then set up my new printer and heat press in one day and crossed my fingers for the first test pieces. 

I generally avoid procrastination but we were so busy over the summer I just decided to do my best and see what we could make happen. I’m so glad this new method worked out and that I’ll be able to bring more designs to life in the future. 

I’ll likely do multiple locations again, along with a 2026 design, and maybe winter botanicals next year. If there’s something you’d like to see, please let me know!

More Reference Photos for my Winter Hibernation Plan

My plan for the winter months is to create updated paintings of favorite WV locations. I'm also looking forward to creating small offerings with each new painting, like stickers and even landscape note cards. 

I'd love to make a whole New River Gorge National Park collection, so last month we traveled south to the Fayetteville, WV area to collect reference photos.

We stayed at the Hawks Nest State Park Lodge for our first night in the area. This was my first experience staying at a State Park lodge. This one has a really cool mid-century style.

The next morning, we hiked to a few scenic view points at Hawks Nest and checked out its unique castle bathroom. Then we met up with friends and hiked out to Beauty Mountain Overlook at sunset for a seriously amazing view.

Over the rest of the weekend, we hiked to various viewpoints of the New River Gorge Bridge, Concho Overlook, Thurmond, and the Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park where the fall colors were in full view. I thought it was interesting that this trip centered around man-made structures.

WV Tourism’s 2025 Fall Foliage Calendar has been a useful resource for our trips this year.

In the Studio...

I’m putting the finishing touches on the language of herbs series! All of the herbs will be released as 5" x 7" cards that can be framed as beautiful mini prints. 

I’ll also have large sampler prints of all 12 herbs. Everything will go live on my site Friday, November 28 as part of my annual holiday sale. 

This year, everything including originals will be 15% off! Many of my current landscape prints will be retired next year as I add new paintings to my site.