aha! Moment

Day 30–40

I started playing with gold leaf again. A few months ago, I added gold leaf to the background of a painting I had been struggling with. It felt like a risk, but I loved the way it transformed the piece, so I hung it in the gallery. It sold—and the client absolutely gushed over the gold leaf details.

That’s the thing about creativity: one little spark can send you back to the studio ready to experiment all over again.

And honestly, that spark kicked off this entire series of Glimmer paintings.

A few months ago, I came across the idea of “glimmers.” A glimmer is a small, everyday moment that signals safety, calm, or joy to your nervous system. The tiny moments that make you pause and feel alive.

That idea stuck with me.

I’ve always been someone who advocates for positive thinking (and if you know me, you know I could climb right up on my soapbox about that). But truly, I think we all need more practice finding joy—looking for it, noticing it, celebrating it.

As I began intentionally recognizing glimmers in my own life, I had a realization: this is what I’ve been trying to paint for years. I just never had the language for it.

That felt huge.

Suddenly, my work had a clearer focus—a centered purpose. Bringing this life practice into my creative practice has been deeply fulfilling. It feels like everything is connecting in a way it hadn’t before. What joy.

Lately, I’ve been painting the birds that greet me while I sip coffee on the porch in the morning. The flowers that catch my eye. A sketch of my granddaughter. The ordinary, beautiful things that make up my days.

Realizing that my purpose is to capture these glimmers has felt freeing.

And my hope is that these paintings do more than bring me joy—that they offer a sense of peace and joy to others, too. Maybe even inspire someone else to start noticing the glimmers tucked into their everyday life.