Reflecting back on this past year, sometimes it seemed like 2025 couldn’t get any worse. On the flip side, in my art practice, a lot of splendid surprises happened for me last year. I earned several awards in local shows, as well as a best plein air for gouache in plein air magazine’s April salon contest. I was accepted to several of my 'reach' shows including CWA's international call, and received a few solo show offers. I gained gallery representation at The Highlight Gallery in Mendocino, CA, so now I am represented in galleries bi-coastally. And, I hosted 2 gouache workshops with eager, enthusiastic, and kind participants.

In 2025, I felt a momentum building like I hadn’t felt before, a momentum I’ve longed for for so many years. Now that these achievements are coming to fruition, I’m experiencing a strange sense of disappointment with these recent successes. Perhaps I anticipated that once receiving recognition, I’d be satisfied, I’d realize my own self-worth, that I’d reach nirvana! But these feelings haven’t materialized with external praise. For me, authentic satisfaction comes when I get an idea onto canvas, that moment when I decide a painting is finished, when I share my love for creating with others. In other words, I’ve discovered that my gauge of success is finding personal satisfaction in my painting practice. 

In this next coming year, I won’t be letting off the gas pedal. I plan to offer workshops and demos, apply for shows, and continue to churn out work. But from now on, I will always ask myself before I touch my brush to a surface, am I doing this for me? Because I think that’s the way creative expression ought to be.