We’ve always believed in the grounding power of puzzles to help us stay present through the changing seasons. Rendered in vivid colors and various sizes, each of our puzzles is a feast for the eyes. In addition to aesthetics, they also ask us to take note of the little moments surrounding their completion: How is the light in the room? What’s on your mind? Are you in the company of loved ones? Who will you become by the time your puzzle is finished?
While art is just one piece of the process, so much of what we do at Ordinary Habit comes to life in the hands of our global community of artist partners, who contribute their talents to our collections year after year. In celebration of our Winter 2025 launch, we asked a few of them to share more about their respective practices and habits—and reflect on what piece of their puzzles they cherish most.
Rachel Victoria Hillis
For Rachel Victoria Hillis, consistently using a sketchbook is a relatively new ordinary habit, but one that’s led to big creative strides. “Having a book full of rough sketches and blank pages felt daunting to me because I always wanted my sketchbooks to look pretty and ‘done,’ like other artists' sketchbooks,” she reflects. “Now that I’m starting to experience the world of illustrating children’s books, I have a newfound appreciation for giving my preliminary sketches a home and having a place to feel free with a pencil—and to test my ideas before committing to anything. I also love that I can keep them forever as a record of my progress.”
This approach lent itself well to the creation of Coffee in the West Village. Although she’s only visited New York twice, Hillis felt strongly that she could bring her warmth for the city to life in this snowy, nostalgic scene. “I love the vignette of the girls inside the coffee shop, keeping warm with pastries and hot drinks under the cozy lighting, juxtaposed against the snowflakes falling outside, and the greyhound waiting patiently for their owner,” she notes. “A lot of people said I was cruel for drawing the dog freezing outside whilst the girls are sitting inside, but my idea is that the dog doesn’t belong to them—the owner is inside getting a coffee to go!” In this way, including multiple, smaller narratives in a scene is key for Hillis. “This is a good reflection of how my brain works. I’m autistic, so when I’m looking at a busy scene in real life, my mind gets carried away by imagining all of the details and wondering about the life story of every person, animal, and building.”
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Mihaela Karadjova
Mihaela Karadjova also shares an affinity for appreciating the little things and moments—a habit that’s impacted all areas of her life. With Magic of the Season, we see these themes unfold in each and every piece. “As I created this art, I realized how much I love paying attention to the smallest details; the things that might seem ordinary but actually hold so much meaning,” she says, citing the way someone decorates their home to the smell of freshly-baked cookies.
“Since the Christmas tree is right at the center of the puzzle—and so many of the movements and moments happen around it—I’d love to zoom in on that,” she adds. “For me, decorating the tree has always felt like stepping into a fairytale. Growing up, it was something my family and I always did together, and those memories are incredibly precious to me. I can still picture every little ornament we had as vividly as the day we first brought them home. That’s why this tree feels so special; it represents warmth, nostalgia, and the feeling of home. Everything in the puzzle happens around it, almost like it’s the guiding star, the safe place, the heart of the celebration. The holidays are really about those small gestures of care and joy, and if this puzzle can spark even a bit of that feeling, then I feel like I’ve shared something truly meaningful.”
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Yelena Bryksenkova
Similarly, Yelena Bryksenkova was able to call upon the magic of the season close to home. “Earlier this year, my partner and I were lucky enough to become the owners of a 200-year-old house in a beautiful small town,” she shares. “The house’s windows have imperfect glass that slightly distorts the view and creates shimmering patterns on the walls when the sun shines through them. My ordinary habit these days is quietly admiring these patterns as I sit with my morning cup of tea.”
Bryksenkova’s house set the perfect conditions to create Bundle Up, which was aptly inspired by the idea of a cozy, old home filled with handmade treasures. “The fact that the art was destined to be a puzzle—and therefore needed to have lots of small, interesting details to discover—dictated the density and balance of the composition, making the process of creating it a little different from the way I would typically build up a scene,” Bryksenkova shares, adding that she also had to approach each few inches as its own vignette. Take the bottom quarter of the puzzle, for instance: “It’s a delightful jumble of color and pattern. Two weenies dressed in little coats are making a mess of tangled leashes on a Turkish wool entryway rug. I started with the intricately pattered rug in its entirety and then went in with the tangled lines right on top—a breath-holdingly delicate painting operation, but a result that I think it will be a particularly fun and satisfying part of the puzzle to put together.”
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Camille Clerc
When it comes to inspiring environments, Camille Clerc notes the power of painting outdoors. “There’s just something about painting outside that really boosts creativity.” Coupling this with her favorite ordinary habit of going for walks, it’s no wonder that creating The Skater came naturally to Clerc.
“A cozy outfit, a beautiful landscape, that feeling of lightness… At first, the illustration was a lot simpler, but I kept adding little details, like the reflections in the ice,” she reflects. “The trickiest part was getting the ice to look translucent. As for the colors, pink and green are a perfect match. It’s a no-brainer!” More than any one scene, Clerc shares a particular sensation that made all of the pieces come together. “It’s always the light that brings an illustration to life. I remember adding that yellow glow on the snowy mountain tops and thinking, ‘Yes! I love this!’”
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Sarah Long
While many of our artist friends prove there’s nothing like spending the holidays in familiar places, there’s something equally magical about allowing the season to let you see the world anew—just ask Sarah Long. “I love spending an hour reading before bed. It takes me into other worlds and lives and resets me before I go to sleep.” This quality imbues Long’s quintessential Christmas Eve. “The inspiration for the Christmas house was a beautiful vintage tea towel I’d seen—and I’d previously designed a card with lots of people making snow angels on it,” she shares. “I liked the playfulness so much, I wondered what else I would like to snow angel on: cake! I mainly get my ideas from vintage designs and then apply them to modern-day situations. Playing with design is what I enjoy the most.”
That playfulness is also present in every piece of her puzzles, though for Long, two notable vignettes stand out. For Christmas Eve, she also loves that each window contains different scenes and stories. “One of my favorite details is that the doll’s house is a miniature version of the main house in the puzzle… I also love the cat and dog exchanging presents.” Who wouldn’t!
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