When Joanna Gaines first picked up a paintbrush to dabble in watercolor, she didn’t expect the result to have such a huge impact on her life.
On February 18, 2026, the HGTV and Magnolia Network star published her newest blog post — to appear in the Spring 2026 issue of her magazine, Magnolia Journal. In her new essay, Gaines vulnerably shared how her new hobby “has become a lifeline.”
For Joanna Gaines, Painting is ‘Just for Sport’ But Has Had a Profound Impact
Magnolia NetworkIn her essay, Gaines — a mom of five with an empire to run — admitted that at the end of each day, it’s easy to feel like doing “anything that’s not essential to daily upkeep and survival” is frivolous and unnecessary.
But in recent months, Gaines has allowed herself to pick up her paints and papers even when there are still things to do around the house or with work, explaining that she knows “what awaits on the other side of breaking formation, of reaching for the fringe and seeing what doors swing open. And lately, that curiosity has led me out to the garden shed and to the cabinet where I keep my watercolor supplies. To a hobby that has become a lifeline.”
Although it brings her joy, Gaines admitted, “Some days, it’s the last thing I want to do. When it feels like more work after a long work day. Or I feel too vulnerable because I know I’m not all that good at it. Some days, it feels almost irresponsible when there’s so much to do in here, right in front of me—the chores to catch up on, the meals to make, the laundry to start.”
But oftentimes, the best time to go paint is when she’s “running on fumes,” Gaines wrote. “Once there, I pull out the paints, the brushes, the paper. I grab the smock and tie it once around my neck, then twice around my waist. I slide open the window, push play on my favorite playlist, and settle in at my easel.”
The results are nothing Gaines plans to share or sell, writing that it’s “just for sport,” but she also said that when she’s painting, she feels like she’s “uncovering new ways of being.”
Joanna Gaines Says Something Good Has Been ‘Reawakened’ With Her Painting Practice
The “Fixer Upper” star and her daughters also experimented with a pottery wheel in December, but Gaines’ watercolor hobby has helped her let go of needing a specific result at the end. In fact, she noted in her journal entry that she rarely knows what she’ll paint when she sits down.
Gaines wrote that as she waits for inspiration to strike, it takes some discipline to “push away thoughts that distract from the ideas beginning to surface. I reach for one color, then another. Something starts to take shape, so I follow it. Some days, it doesn’t come easy. Some days, it feels like it won’t come at all—the sheets of experiments piled on the floor are proof.”
“Hours pass like this, and then, it clicks,” Gained shared. “An idea takes flight, and suddenly I’m only in the moment in front of me.”
“This is when it gets fun, even unexpected, because it’s not only my brush but my mind that’s moving now, in and out of territories new and old,” Gaines continued. “I’m doing, but also I’m dreaming. It’s as though this break in pace, in routine, gave my mind the rest it needed to roam, the permission to wander—and it found its way to that untapped world where fresh ideas live. Where chaos shapeshifts into clarity. Where inner knowings I forgot were there get reawakened.”
Gaines told her readers that “it often takes a mental pep talk to get me out of the house and in front of my easel or a discard pile that covers the floor,” but said that in the end, “it’s worth the fight to find my way to that source of potential and possibility that’s mine and mine alone.”
The Magnolia Journal Spring 2026 Issue hits newsstands on Friday, February 20, and can be purchased online at Magazines.com.
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