Word of 2026

 2026: Magical

I love living life with intention.

Not halfway. Not casually.

But fully—heart, soul, and presence engaged.

Each year, I choose a single word to guide how I want to live the year, not just move through it. A word that becomes a compass when I feel distracted, uncertain, or pulled off center.

Last year, my word was Focus.

I wanted clarity—of mind, body, and soul—so I could create what truly mattered for myself and for those who chose to share their time and energy with me.

And it worked.

Focus helped me step back and see my life more honestly. It helped me define what belonged and what didn’t. It also asked me to let go of things that no longer fit—never easy, sometimes painful, but deeply necessary.

That clearing led me here.

To this year’s word.

Magical.

Not magic.

But magical.

Just this morning, I realized something quietly important: I have been living very seriously. And while I am, at my core, a light-hearted and joyful person, I also have a long-standing habit of overthinking, overdoing, and competing with myself—always striving to be “better,” often chasing acceptance without even realizing it.

This pattern runs deep. It began long ago as a way to survive, to be needed, to make others happy so I could feel safe and cherished. Much of it lived far beneath my awareness—until this past year, when I finally saw it clearly.

I noticed how often I tried to fix situations so others would feel okay. Sometimes that was empathy.

But sometimes—quietly, subtly—it was about easing my own discomfort.

Seeing that truth was both tender and freeing.

And that clarity led me to my word.

Let’s pause with it for a moment.

Magic is about power, illusion, the act itself.

But magical is about feeling.

Wonder. Ease. Enchantment. Presence.

Magic creates tricks.

Magical creates experience.

That is what I am inviting into my life this year—the felt sense of being alive. Less pressure. More curiosity. Less fixing. More allowing.

Magical gives me permission to soften.

To leave room for surprise.

To trust that life doesn’t need to be forced to be meaningful.

As we begin this year together—Listening, Choosing, Trusting, Becoming—I see how perfectly this word fits. You cannot live magically without listening. You cannot choose wisely without trust. And you cannot become who you’re meant to be while carrying the weight of who you thought you had to be.

This year isn’t about doing more.

It’s about feeling more.

It will be an interesting year of discovery.

And I’m stepping into it with wonder.

Connected : The Blue Butterfly Complete

It started with the Blue Butterfly—a Morpheus butterfly— an image that arrived two years ago and quietly landed on my list of ideas.

The Morpheus blue symbolizes transformation, spiritual growth, new beginnings. Its vibrant wings have long been linked to hope and healing. But what I love most is this: a butterfly can only fly when its wings move together—connected at the heart. Without that center, there is no lift, no rise, no possibility of soaring.

Back and Forth

This piece first appeared as a collector’s idea, then drifted toward becoming a workshop project. For more than a year she floated between the two—never fully landing—until she finally settled as a workshop: Connected at Heart Center.

Oddly, the online workshop arrived at a time that didn’t quite fit. Attendance was low, yet the women who did join carried powerful, tender stories about why this symbol mattered to them. Their artwork turned out stunning—each wing a reflection of someone they loved, or a part of themselves they were finally ready to reconnect with.

Wings are important

With the two wings came the realization that I needed to create two pieces. My intention was always that the workshop invite each person to listen closely to what their own heart wanted to hold—whether that was a mother, a sister, a friend, or the part of themselves that needed to be seen again.

She landed

And, as butterflies do, she continued drifting—from flower to flower, hand to hand—until she unexpectedly returned to me through a beloved patron as a collector’s commission.

Connected: Soul Sisters.

My intention was to keep the spirit of the workshop alive while weaving in the kinds of fabrics, details, and techniques that transform a simple project into a true collector’s piece.

It all began with the gown’s fabric — a vibrant print custom-ordered from a small textile studio in Poland. The moment it arrived, I knew it carried the energy this piece needed.

Bodies of sculpted heads in clay and covered with vintage Japanese chirimen silk.

The sculpted heads are formed in clay, then wrapped in vintage Japanese chirimen silk — a fabric that brings both subtle texture and quiet history to each face.

Once the silk is applied, the faces are gently tinted and painted by hand, allowing the features to emerge softly from the fabric. Each eyebrow is embroidered with fine black silk thread.

In the photo below, you can see how beautifully the chirimen silk catches the light and enhances the contours of the face.

Final Images

I’m often asked about the difference between my Collector’s Pieces and the projects created in my workshops. While both carry my aesthetic and intention, they are made in very different ways.

Collector’s Piece:

Collector’s Piece begins with a sculpted clay head, allowing for intricate shaping, expressive detail, and a great deal of time and refinement. The fabrics I use are often one-of-a-kind, vintage, or sourced from small artisans. Accessories are either vintage treasures or handcrafted by me. Every element is deliberate, layered, and uniquely its own.

Workshop Piece:
Workshop designs are created to be accessible to students around the world. The fabrics are more readily available, and the faces are formed through needle-sculpting rather than clay. These pieces are still beautifully challenging, but less intricate than the collectors' offering, giving students the joy of creation without the complexity of advanced techniques.

In this case, the size was also a difference. My collector pieces are more substantial in size at 29". This workshop piece is 18".

Detail Images

Silk velvet hand-dyed heart.

Each circle is hand-colored using alcohol inks on silk noil fabric. Appliqued and topstitched.

The back of the wings is depicted in a color that mimics the Morpheus butterfly.

Wings are tied onto the gowns.

The hats were created in a whimsical fashion, each with one antenna, noting that we may need another to complete the picture of life.

Side note: The antennae are primarily for smell, to find mates, food, and host plants, and for flight stabilization, acting like a gyroscope.

Cotton with vintage trim and Peruvian cotton pom poms.

Gown interiors are vintage Chinese silk from the 1950s.

Pantaloons are made of cotton fabric with a Japanese cotton hemline.

Boots are cotton fabric lined with chartreuse silk dupioni. Silk ribbon ties and vintage flowers.

Soles are chartreuse silk dupioni.

Close-up of printed fabric hemline topstitching.

Full image of back.

Connected...

Without the Wings.

My Thoughts

Artmaking is such a curious thing. The pieces that truly matter always seem to arrive through the heart first. When I try to think my way forward, everything feels like effort and friction. But when I let the image move through me—when I let the heart lead—the path opens, the wing lifts, and the work takes flight on its own.

Closing Reflection

My hope is that these pieces remind you to pause, soften, and let your own heart speak first. Creativity doesn’t ask for perfection—it asks for presence. It asks for trust. It asks for the quiet courage to follow what feels alive inside you, even when the way forward is unclear.

When your wings feel uneven, return to your center.
When your ideas feel heavy, return to your heart.
There is always a moment—small, luminous—when something inside you clicks open, and what once felt impossible finally rises.

May your own creations, whatever form they take, find their way into the world with ease, grace, and the steady lift of a heart-led beginning.

I invite you to visit My Website: