Most mornings begin with a walk down the wooden steps to the dock. The lake is never the same twice. Some days it is a mysterious moody blue and perfectly still. Other days it is full of movement, dancing with sparkle from the sun’s reflection. I bring a small sketchbook, camera and a mug of coffee. This is where the day’s palette begins.
I sit for a while before lifting a pencil. There’s something about waiting that feels like part of the art itself. The lake offers up images I could never see in a hurry, stillness like glass that only exists at dawn, shades of blues and greens that feel new, even though I’ve seen the same view a thousand times before, and delicate streaks of rose during sunset make a stranger call out, did you see that!
I jot down what I see, but more importantly I pay attention to how it feels: calm, alive, expectant. These feelings guide my hand when I start to paint.
When I step back into the studio, I’m not just carrying sketches and photos. I’m carrying the memory of that air, the soft sound of water, the cool weight of the morning, the awe of a sunset. Those sensations slip into the work almost on their own.
The Holiday and Nature collections both started this way, as colors mixed to echo what the lake, sun and sky whispered.
An Invitation to Notice
You don’t need to visit a lake to begin your day with wonder. Maybe for you it’s a neighborhood walk, the view from a window, or a favorite park bench. Beauty waits everywhere if we pause to see it.
What colors did you see today?
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