Blog / 2026 / What You Love Most

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

This dog and this space, which is a bookstore, are important sources of comfort for me. Same for this painting of the dog with a book, both for the subject matter and for the thing itself. By which I mean that I love Fern—that’s the dog’s name—as well as reading, and I’m also one of those incredibly lucky people who gets to do something they love all day, every day. I’m able to make art full-time. So this painting represents many things that make me happy: art-making, reading, dogs.

There are other things I love though. Going for walks or dancing, cooking and eating—especially if it’s food that someone else has made for me. I love trees and the chatter of birds when winter begins to thaw. I love watching squirrels in their busy little lives. I love the way water freezes and refreezes in icicles and ice puddles, making elaborate patterns and rippling structures.

I love devouring books, often listening to novels as I paint. My favorite kind of reading or listening isn’t even as much about the book itself. It’s when I know I’ll be talking about a text later, with a book club, like I often do while sitting on the floor with Fern at Howling Basset Books in Lambertville.

The end of winter can feel drawn out with a same-same kind of grey feeling: I hope that you have lots of the things you love most in your life right now!