For this year’s Christmas card, I found inspiration in one of my favorite places to spend time in nature – that is my very own backyard! It seems that this year we have been lucky to enjoy significantly more Cardinals than we did last winter season, and so, observing them as I often do, it was an was easy choice to make. In addition to my newest card, I also printed some cards from a poinsettia design I painted a few years back, though never did anything with. Both original designs were painted using gouache, with touch-ups done digitally.
And because it’s Christmas, something different from my normal type of posts, and that is a personal note; a bit deeper message for a moment… I don’t think the message which these cardinals are proclaiming need much explanation – even to non-religious people. And I do think this message can absolutely transcend to non-religious and even other religious denominations – because it would be a travesty to navigate the darkness of this world today without taking some amount of time to understand where we personally find our foundation of light and hope. If ever there were a time in the past 50 years to contemplate the darkness in the world which we live, I think this Christmas is a good time for such reflection and introspection. Perhaps you live in a blessed bubble of peace and prosperity, or perhaps you are gifted with eternal optimism – what a gift, the more power to you! My little corner of nature is a beautiful glimpse of the “light” of creation that sits on my doorstep and blesses me without me even asking for it. Though, even among all the beauty that I have set before me, sadness has a way of creeping in. I cried yesterday as two beautiful (male & female) cardinals lay dying in my hands, and it only takes but a glimpse at any news page to see that the world is not becoming lighter, but darker. Not becoming more beautiful, but being trampled upon. Not being filled with peace, but filled with divisiveness. Not loving it’s neighbor, but self-absorbed. Hurting, struggling, seeking answers to heal itself through every social, political, economical, technological, and even spiritual means it can find – and yet, does it ever find healing? So, maybe while the world is struggling, and grasping at dust, and telling us what we should be thinking, we ourselves can shut all of that out. We can take some time to search for a light that isn’t temporary or changes with it’s government leaders or social media propaganda. When everything in the world seems to conspire to threaten my comfort, solace, and way of life, I remind myself that this is all very short and temporary. My faith in God grounds me, even from among the darkness, and reminds me that there is a light which sustains a greater hope than what governments, movements, and apps would have me believe! So what hope can I have in this moment, in this life even, if it is derived from a path that brings no healing and leads only to greater sadness and deeper darkness? For me, my faith that God is the light of the world is the reason for the hope that I have!
Merry Christmas! 🙂
August has drawn to a close and the rhythm of the woods is in flux once again. Since moving to the homestead, August has quickly become one of my favorite months of the year. Months of hard work and sweat are realized as the bounty of summer is at it’s finest in Wisconsin. Most of the birds are done nesting (So, I can finally take that sparrow’s nest out of the shutters!), and at last the wildflowers start blooming from the plants that look so weedy most of the summer. Best of all, the spring explosion of bugs and weeds has finally reached manageable levels and we get the occasional day of humidity reprieve. 
PS. I’m planning more “Porcupine inspired” pen drawings and also paintings in the near future as well.
