What a happy new year it is! I am finally home from the glorious holidays and at my easel working. I never really feel like I'm home until I am at my easel. It's both thrilling and a bit sad to be away from family again. Nonetheless, I think we're in for a treat with 2015! 

It was my first time traveling abroad this past holiday season, and was nothing short of spectacular! My husband, Alex, and I went to Hong Kong for three weeks, and I was blown away by its beauty. It was nothing like I imagined it to be – it was so much better! Alex's family has been living there for eight years, and he and I have been trying to go over together since we were dating! It was a long-overdue trip. 

One of our day trips that we took in Hong Kong was to the Tai O Fishing Village. It is a quaint village on one of Hong Kong's Islands with dozens of little homes built on stilts and a very busy water way. I was in awe to see the fishermen cruise past on their boats with nets ready to be tossed out into the sea. The markets were filled with both delicious smells and terrible, fishy smells; mangy dogs that were equally stoic and beautiful roamed the streets; there were beautiful, more modern feeling shops in the market, but their neighboring shops were often shack-like and old. Crazy trinkets made from dried fish, oysters filled with pearls, and other Chinese paraphernalia and souvenirs lied quietly on market tables while both tourist and local buzzed about. It all came together in beautiful harmony that made the village feel perfectly authentic.  

While wandering the markets, Alex and I took a path into a more residential area and down a tiny alley so we could see the water way again. When we came to the end of the alley way, it led us right to the water where a fisherman with a red cap was tying his boats. I found it to be the most beautiful little sight. It was really the first time in Hong Kong (despite everywhere we had been already) that I felt like I was in a completely different country; it was a different world this fisherman lived in. 

The fisherman tying his boats was so simply poetic to me, and I thought that a painting of it would be a beautiful way to start my new year. A memory of a beautiful end to 2014. 

I put together this 12x16 boat study in a few hours one afternoon this past week. I plan to take it to a larger, more complete piece (with more details to the houses on stilts and more fluid water,) but there is still something about this study that I love. I didn't think things over too much when laying paint, I just painted, and the quick strokes seem to give it a dreamy feeling and a purposeful message. A real impression. What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts before I start on the bigger piece.