Studio Notes and Updates

Occasional notes from the studio of Florida-based painter Jenn Royster, working in expressive impressionist realism. Here you’ll find process insights, new work announcements, and exhibition updates.

Nature's Healing Power: Through the Barrel

animals and wildlife coastal waters and wildlife stories behind the paintings Oct 16, 2026

Through the Barrel: Flight and Gallop United, oil painting of a white horse and hawk passing through an ocean wave, by Jenn Royster.

I grew up on the coast, and the beach has always been where I find my way back to myself. When life shifts under my feet, I go to the water. I watch the waves build, curl, and break, and somewhere in that rhythm I remember how to breathe.

The Strength of the Ocean

Anyone who has stood at the edge of the surf knows the ocean is not gentle. A wave can knock you off your feet. That same wave, met with courage, can carry you farther than you could ever go on your own. When a wave curls over into a hollow tunnel, surfers call it the barrel. Riding through it means trusting the very force that could pull you under.

I have come to believe that this is nature's healing power. It doesn't take the hard things away. It shows me that strength and fear can live in the same moment, and that I can move through both.

The White Horse

There is something personal I rarely share. During the major turning points of my life, a white horse appears to me. Sometimes in a dream, sometimes in a way that surprises me in waking life. Through the Barrel: Flight and Gallop United came from the third of those times, after a long season of change.

The Hawk

Beside the horse flies a hawk. Where the horse moves with grounded strength, the hawk sees from above. It can see clearly what lies ahead, even when I can't. Together they hold both halves of how I find my way through challenges: steady footing and a wider view.

Through the Barrel

In the painting, the two of them pass through the curl of a great wave. For me, the barrel is fear itself. It is the rushing, uncertain space between who I was before a challenge and who I become after it. They don't go around it. They go through it, side by side, and they come out the other side together.

That is the part that matters most to me. I came through my own life challenge supported, and never alone.

Maybe you are standing at the edge of your own wave right now. If so, I hope this painting reminds you that the force in front of you may be the very thing that carries you through.

Read more about how I painted it in Through the Barrel: Flight and Gallop United, and see the full painting and details here.