Artist insights, creative techniques, suggested art supplies, and guided exercises for January 2026
by Elizabeth Ragona, with art by Kathy Prince. © 2026 Alabama Art Supply.

Seeing familiar subjects with new eyes shapes artwork more than accuracy or detail.

January is often framed as a season of reinvention—but for artists, new beginnings don’t always arrive through total reinvention. Sometimes a fresh start comes not from abandoning what we know, but from reengaging with it.

This month’s Studio Notes art blog, with art by Kathy Prince, explores how returning to familiar subjects with fresh eyes can become a powerful exercise in clarity, presence, and creative freedom. Working with subjects you’ve already observed, drawn, or painted removes some of the barriers that come with uncertainty, allowing your attention to shift from problem solving to presence and response.

Familiar subjects give you a stable foundation from which to explore changes in technique, medium, and intention. Whether you’ve painted the same vase dozens of times or sketched the same landscape from a single window every year, starting there lets you notice subtler aspects of seeing and making that often get lost when everything feels new or unfamiliar.

Kathy Prince’s work offers a thoughtful example of this kind of transition. Known for her detailed, realistic drawings and paintings in pencil, oils, and watercolor like the colored pencil drawing of the gumball machine above, Kathy’s shift into acrylics required adaptation. Acrylics move faster, behave differently, and resist overworking. The change invited a looser hand, greater trust, and a willingness to let the painting lead.

"Tea Time" in acrylic by Kathy Prince

This month’s theme, Familiar Subjects, Fresh Eyes, encourages artists to begin the year by working with what they already know—while allowing space for change.

When Technique Meets Transition

Strong technical skills are foundational for many artists—a well-developed ability to see form, value, proportion, and structure is often the result of years of practice. Yet those same skills can sometimes become habits that keep us tethered to control. When precision and correction are constant goals, it can be hard to let intuition and spontaneity have room to breathe.

Painting or drawing familiar subjects can loosen that grip. By working with a subject you already understand, you no longer need to spend your attention figuring out what to see—you can focus on how you see it. This shift creates space for responsiveness rather than revision, for discovery rather than perfection.

Consider how different mediums influence this shift as well. Acrylics, with their faster drying times, demand decisiveness and reward responsiveness. Watercolors invite observation of flow and transparency. Pencil encourages pause and reflection. Each medium nudges your habits in its own way, and familiar subjects become a place where those nudges can be noticed and responded to rather than resisted.

Close-up of "White Lily" by Kathy Prince

Acrylic paint, with its faster drying time and opacity, doesn’t allow endless revision. Instead, it asks for decisiveness. Marks stay visible. Layers build quickly. The process rewards responsiveness more than precision.

This shift doesn’t erase prior skill. It reframes it.

Why Familiar Subjects Matter

Working with what is known—even something you’ve painted before—gives artists permission to experiment without the risk that comes with unfamiliar territory. With the basics already mapped, your attention can move to:

• Light and shadow: How do subtle shifts across a surface change the mood?
• Visual economy: What details matter most, and what can be suggested or omitted?
• Gesture and presence: Where do your initial marks carry energy that later corrections don’t?
• Edge and form: How do edges soften or sharpen, and how does that affect visual depth?

Familiar subjects help you notice these elements not as challenges, but as opportunities to respond. Instead of asking, “What is this?” you can ask, “How does it feel right now?”

 
Irises: Left in Watercolor; Right in Acrylic. By Kathy Prince

Loosening Without Losing Control

Loose work is often misunderstood as careless or unfinished. In truth, looseness requires confidence. It requires trusting your first instincts, allowing perceived imperfections to remain, and choosing to stop before every edge and plane has been refined.

This doesn’t mean abandoning structure. Rather, it means deciding consciously where structure matters most and where suggestion can take over. In many of Kathy Prince’s evolving acrylic works—like the painting of the gray cat shown here—realism gives way to responsive paint handling. Brushstrokes remain visible; edges soften; and the work feels more alive not because it is uncontrolled, but because it responds to what it notices.

Translating Skills Across Mediums

"Sunflowers" by Kathy Prince

Working the same subject across different mediums is another way to freshen your eye. What once felt comfortable in pencil might bite back in acrylic or watercolor. These moments of friction are where growth happens.

Translation brings questions that expand your visual vocabulary:

• What is essential in this subject?
• Can value relationships carry more weight than detail?
• What happens if I trust a first pass instead of refining?

Answering these questions isn’t about mastery; it’s about awareness. It’s about letting each medium teach you something slightly different about how you see and how you choose to respond.

Trusting the First Pass

One of the most challenging skills for experienced artists is learning when to stop. The first pass often contains energy and honesty that later revisions can flatten. Choosing to complete a piece in one session, or at least without returning to rework it, can reveal qualities in your marks and approaches that you might otherwise overlook.

Not every piece needs to be finished. Some need only to be seen. Some need only to be accepted as they are in that moment. That’s where freedom begins.

An Invitation for January

This month’s exercises focus on revisiting what is familiar while allowing it to shift. You’re invited to simplify, loosen, translate, and trust — without judgment or expectation. Familiar subjects can become pathways to deeper seeing, not anchors that hold you back.

The beginning of a new year doesn’t require starting over. Sometimes it asks only for attention, curiosity, and the courage to let your work change as you do.

Suggest Products (January, Week 1-4)

Week 1: Seeing What You Know

Focus: Choose a familiar subject you’ve drawn or painted before and make a small study without correcting or reworking.

• Sketchbook or Mixed Media Pad – for quick studies
• Graphite Pencil Set – variety of hardness
• Charcoal or Graphite Pencils – expressive marks
• Micron Fine-Line Pens – capture confident lines
• Sta-Wet Painter's Portable Palette (for color studies)
• Cotman Floral Watercolor Set or a Gouache – if adding color

Week 2: Letting Go of Tight Control

Focus: Create a piece with fewer details than usual by limiting tools or time.

• Limited Palette Paint Set – (e.g., a small Galeria 6-color Acrylic set or Qor watercolor set)
• Brush Set (Assorted Sizes) – including larger brushes for looser marks
• Richeson Gray Matters Palette Paper or Mixing Tray – easy mixing without fuss
• Stretched Canvas
• Stopwatch or Timer – for time-limited sessions
• Chalk Pastels or Soft Pastels – for expressive, less detailed color

Week 3: Translating Mediums

Focus: Rework a subject previously done in pencil or watercolor using acrylics.

• Acrylic Paint Set – beginner to intermediate
• Acrylic Brushes – flats & rounds
• Canvas Panel or Acrylic Paper Pad – surface suited for acrylics
• Paint Knives – for texture and quick application
• Acrylic Mediums (Gloss or Matte Gel) – extend/modify paint behavior

Week 4: Trusting the First Pass

Focus: Complete a piece in one session without revisiting it later.

• Large Drawing Pad or 16x20 Canvas Panel – room for confident work
• Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic Paint Set or Cotman 12-color Watercolor Set – whichever medium you choose
• Acrylic brushes or Watercolor Brushes (Various Sizes) – for responsive mark-making
• Erasers (Kneaded & Vinyl) – light adjustments only
• Krylon Workable Fixative Spray – preserve first-pass studies if desired

Try It Now: Familiar Subjects, Fresh Eyes

February 2026 Studio Notes Exercise Guide

Inspired by the work of Kathy Prince

Week 1: Seeing What You Know

What

Choose a familiar subject you’ve drawn or painted before.

Why

Working with known subjects frees you from problem-solving and lets you focus on how you see now.

How

Make a small study without correcting or reworking. Let marks stand.

Week 2: Letting Go of Tight Control

What

Create a piece with fewer details than you normally include.

Why

Looser work often reveals stronger composition and emotion.

How

Limit your time or your tools. Stop before you’d usually keep refining.

Week 3: Translating Mediums

What

Rework a subject you’ve done in pencil or watercolor using acrylics.

Why

Changing mediums disrupts habits and encourages new solutions.

How

Focus on shapes and values first—details come last, if at all.

Week 4: Trusting the First Pass

What

Complete a piece in one session without revisiting it later.

Why

First responses often carry more energy and honesty.

How

Work decisively. When it feels finished, stop.

⭐ Share Your Process

Trying the exercises? Finished or not, your process matters.

We’d love to see what you’re working on. Share your piece on social media and tag @AlabamaArtSupply or use #StudioNotesAAS so we can follow along.

A Final Thought

The beginning of a new year doesn’t require starting over. It can begin by returning—to familiar subjects, trusted skills, and the marks your hand already knows how to make.

Growth doesn’t always arrive as something bold or new. Sometimes it shows up quietly, in looser edges, fewer corrections, and the willingness to stop sooner than you once did.

Let what you know support you. Let what’s changing guide you. Let the work meet you where you are.

Featured Artist Connection

This Studio Notes art blog is inspired by the work and approach of a featured artist at Alabama Art Supply. Visit the artist’s feature to explore their work, background, and creative perspective in more depth.

→ Meet the Featured Artist: Kathy Prince

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