Cottages of the Pacific Northwest

When I started painting Cottages of the Pacific Northwest, I wanted to capture the region’s charm — but the journey changed me. What I found were stories of struggle, resilience, and quiet hope. Art can’t fix everything, but it can help us see.

Every painting begins with a journey — sometimes through a landscape, sometimes through the heart. This one began with a road trip through the Pacific Northwest with my sister — the first real stretch of time we’d spent together since we were teenagers. I wasn’t sure what to expect: two sisters, decades later, setting out with maps, memories, and a little curiosity about how we’d get along after all these years.

What I didn’t expect was how the trip — and what we saw — would change me. As we wound through western Oregon, I was struck by the quiet beauty of the land… and by the quiet hardship that often lived right beside it. So many tired homes, so many signs of struggle tucked between the evergreens. I hadn’t realized how deep the poverty ran in this region, and it stayed with me.

When I began painting afterward, I found myself drawn to the idea of cottages — small, colorful, whimsical places that seemed to hold both comfort and longing.

As the series unfolded, I realized many of those cottages felt like it was built for two — my sister and me. Maybe they reflected the time we spent rediscovering each other, laughing, remembering, and sharing a little bit of who we used to be.

The Cottages of the Pacific Northwest became more than paintings of place — they became portraits of connection, empathy, and hope. Each cottage is bright and joyful, but also rooted in something deeper: the wish that everyone might have a place that feels safe, warm, and filled with love.

Art has this gentle power to open our eyes. It can make us see what’s often overlooked — and remind us how much we all share. For me, this series is about more than just cottages. It’s about sisterhood, awareness, and the way art can hold both joy and heartbreak in the same brushstroke.

If a painting can spark even a moment of reflection or tenderness, then maybe it can also help move the world, in its own quiet way, toward kindness.

With Love and Hope,

Margo