I’ve spent a lot of time at the easel this week, painting every day.  I am pushing through to get as many pet commissions done for Christmas presents before it’s too late for oils to dry in time.  I used to sit in front of old pieces of furniture, and now I sit in front of small wood panels clamped in an easel.  Both tasks are about transformation.  Both involve paint, brushes, and creative decisions.  I have grown and changed as an artist, and my business has evolved, but at the heart of it, it’s just me and paint, pictures, and words, sharing what I’m up to each day. I’ve just been thinking a lot this week about creative seasons, how things change, and how they stay the same. Here are my four things for the week: Mansfield Park, Next Gen Chef, no need to sparkle, and new papers…  

It’s hard to believe we’re in the final two months of 2025.  Didn’t it just start?  I remember someone telling me I pressed the fast-forward button on my life when I was holding a newborn Marshall in my arms, and she was right.  The years seem so fleeting and precious, and our growing, maturing boys are a great measuring stick for the passage of time.  I love this time of year, though—the cooler temperatures and build-up of anticipation to Christmas.  I’m feeling particularly childlike as this holiday season approaches.  I’m eager to start decorating and working on handmade projects, baking, and then enjoying the calm between Christmas and New Year’s.  This will be our fourth Christmas in this house, and I think I finally feel settled here.  I’m learning it takes about that long, about three years, to feel at home in a new house.  And that feels good. Here

It’s our final few days before it gets dark ridiculously early.  I’m already feeling the darkness creeping in as I’m sitting at my easel in the afternoon.  I love winter and all that comes with it—soup, Christmas, hoodies and wool socks, football games, and snow—but I wish it came with more sunlight.  I know you can’t have one without the other, though, so I’ve pulled some extra lighting into my studio so I can continue to work a full day despite the lack of light.   Here are my four things for the week: Austen, Austen, an introduction, and repetitive seasons.       what I’m reading While in England, I had the chance to visit Jane Austen’s home in Chawton, which left me with a craving to read her books.  (I will share more about that visit in a post next week.)  I read Sense & Sensibility ages ago, but I

Autumn is in full swing here in Maryland, and we are in the thick of our yearly battle with the leaves falling from our six 50-year-old maple trees.  Jeff takes the lead on the leaves, and I’m working on garden chores to give ourselves the gift of a tidy yard over the winter, and garden beds ready for spring mulching and planting.  I plan to work more on that now that the pool is closed and I don’t have to spend time fishing leaves and twigs out of the water.  It’s been a week of reintroduction to my work routines with varying degrees of success!  Why does it take so long to get back into a rhythm?  I’m slowly getting there… My four things for this week: more about the Cotswolds, asking for suggestions, gingham & linen, and back at the easel.       what I’m reading I am definitely

I had planned to write Four Things posts while traveling, but that didn’t happen.  Our days were full and, when we did have downtime, I didn’t want to spend it pecking away at my computer.  Instead, I wrote in my journal to record all my experiences, thoughts, and observations as close to the moment as possible.  I wandered around the villa’s grounds where we stayed in Italy.  I painted, sketched, and soaked it all in.   But now that I’m home, Four Things is back.  Here is what I’m reading, watching, loving, and working on…Cotswolds Memoir, Knife Edge, why we bother, and plowing through the mountain before me…     what I’m reading I was scrambling before we left for our trip to get everything done, so I didn’t have to worry about things left undone while overseas.  For that reason, I didn’t read up on the places we were visiting

This week has been all about prepping and packing for my upcoming trip to England and Italy.  It’s sort of wild to me that I’ve never been to England, given that I lived in Germany as a child.  We traveled all over the place, but never made it across the English Channel.  I know this will be the first of many visits, because there are so many places I want to see for their beauty and/or historical significance.  A branch of my family is from England (I’m a great-granddaughter of Edward I), so it would be fun to visit some of our family homes and gravesites.  I would also like to go on a “Kitchin sketchbook tour” to see and paint some of the homes captured in the sketchbooks I purchased a few years ago.   However, as we planned this trip, we knew we would have to choose one general

I’ve mentioned before that sometimes, around the dinner table, our family shares our highs and lows for the day or week.  It’s a good way to get kids talking beyond the typical one-word answer.  “Fine.”  This week, we have a big high.  Calvin, our youngest, got his driver’s license.  He was the last person in the house we had to chauffeur.  While it’s terrifying and our car insurance is mindbogglingly high, I am so proud of him and excited that my days sitting in the school drop-off line are behind me!  That’s a pretty big high for the week.     Here are my four things – Watercolor techniques, laughter as medicine, a romance with used books, and trip preparations.         what I’m reading I am traveling to the UK and Italy in just a little over a week (I can’t believe it’s almost here), and I will be

  My four things post typically goes live on a Thursday, but with a lot happening in the world, it felt appropriate to press pause on posting content online.  I hope that this blog will be a source of encouragement and inspiration to those who read it; that it will be a reprieve from the brokenness of this world in a small way.   Here are my four things for the week – A year of travel, tiny perfect things, being an artist, and book covers.   what I’m reading I followed along as Ashley of @underthesycamore shared her family’s year-long adventure to 20 countries.  It was so fun to see where they were, to watch her children blossom in foreign environments, and to read her stories of people and places.  While I prefer to stay in nice accommodations over youth hostels, I take a very similar approach to travel as Ashley