2026: Year of Gratitude
Happy New Year!
New Year's Eve is a fun time to look back on the year and see all that you've accomplished, explored, created, and felt. Capturing all of the best highlights of the year and packaging them into a nice little memory box, and don't get me wrong, it's so important to look back and celebrate.
New Year's Day however, has the ability to make you feel like all of that wasn't enough. Like you need to scrap it all and re-create your whole entire identity into something more productive, more useful, and more successful. There's pressure to become an entirely new person just because the calendar shifted and personally I'm really not feeling it this year.
This year, I'm patting myself on the back, grateful for all that I've accomplished and continuing to move forward one day at a time. I'm dreaming of all the possibilities of what this year could look like, holding onto precious moments as my children grow older, and moving forward with the plans that I've created for the past few months.
I do have some exciting things I plan to work on this season, including a weekly winter painting project, and the beginnings of the Post Card Club, but mostly I plan to be pretty much the same person and do pretty much the same things that brought me here with just a little more intention, and a little more GRATITUDE!
“Winter’s Peaceful Rest” Original gouache mountain landscape painting of winter at Moraine Lake
The holidays always leave me with a desire to endlessly paint with the insane optimism that I can create whole collections in a matter of weeks. Here's what you can look forward to this year:
A weekly winter painting challenge (more info on this soon)
The Monthly Post Card Club
A collection inspired by Glacier National Park in Montana
More Mountain Sketches in gouache
Coastal paintings inspired by Southern California
Winter is a quiet, peaceful season in the studio that allows me the time and space to create. A time where I don't have any market demands or really big plans. A time where I can stay cozy in my warm studio and just paint! I'm excited to challenge myself to create at least one new original each week, even if it's terrible. To improve my craft and grow as an artist.
I've also felt inspired to explore new mediums and new forms of expression. I don't know if you know this about me, but since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a photographer as well as an artist. I'd like to create more through photography and documentation along side my work. I've felt inspired to write more and share more of my life and my process. I used to write in my journal every single day up into my early twenties. I've even considered starting a Substack account. The joy in this would be the freedom to do it just for me. To forget about algorithms and metrics. To fall more in love with my life again.
This is also the exciting part of the monthly Post Card Club. To share some unreleased work with you along with my favourite travel experiences and recommendations. A way to connect with you on a deeper level through good ol' fashioned snail mail.
I think a lot of this inspiration has come from reading “The Book of Alchemy” recently. It's a beautiful guide to the art of journaling and memoirs. The author explains the benefits of keeping a journal in a way that inspires you to write your own. I also have a desire to read more this year and truly be inspired by the arts in all mediums.
Winter in Redwood Meadows along the frozen Elbow River
I want to live more fully, more abundantly, enjoying more of my life and feeling less burnt out by societal pressures. I want to feel more Joy in my life despite my circumstances, and to soak in the peace of nature that exists all around me. That is why I am declaring
2026: The Year of Gratitude!
Wishing you all the best of health, happiness, and success in 2026.
xo, Rebecca