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Saturday, December 6, 2014

"Light"



Solstice is coming!  Yay!  Hey, we’ve all got to look for the light when things aren’t all sunshine and puppies.  I’m not going to share any more bad news this week.  This blog is supposed to be a happy place.

I watched friends hang lights on their house.  I even helped plug them in and kept my usual bah humbug wasting fossil fuels thoughts to myself.  Surely nobody could hope for more out of me on the dark side of solstice. The consolation is that this is the season for cookies.  One of my vendors even gave my office a big box of chocolates yesterday.  Sue decorated the office with dancing, singing stuffed animals.

Forgetting about the current mass murder of pine trees, only 15 more days and winter begins and the days start getting longer.  If you want seasonal cheer, go to Jane’s blog.  She has the right attitude and even makes me less seasonally temperamental with her real commitment to celebrating Christmas.

I grew up getting underwear and socks for Christmas, and nobody has to tell a kid those are sucky presents.  (Mom sputtering and protesting in the background about being fiscally responsible...)

Moccasins were the best gift I received.  Dad (who never bought gifts) bought them for me before he died.  I held the present unopened for a long time, coping with grief, disbelief, and fears of disappointment.  I wore those moccasins for years.

Gifts can be so many things, and I often feel that we’ve gone from white cotton underwear to extreme excess.  We buy things out of guilt and obligation.  Kids barely look at one gift before they’re ripping into the next, almost everything left on the floor, forgotten and unappreciated.  Yet gifts can be like moccasins too, warming our heart long after the leather has worn out.

I want to give “moccasins” to people.  I want to share the feeling that I’m glad people are in my life.  Then I go to stores and find that there’s nothing meaningful in any of it, or the stores just don’t understand my giving needs.  It tires me to think of shopping.  So much for the clichés that women like to shop.  Some women enjoy it.  I’d rather stay in and finish reading my latest book.

Which by the way is the last in the “Game of Thrones” series by George R. R. Martin.  I’ll give a conditional recommendation.  Too violent for me, but it is a good story if you like heroic fantasy.  An unqualified recommendation is for Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss which I absolutely loved.  Maybe I’ll give books this Christmas?  What books did you like this year?

In case you can’t tell, I’m trying to work up the energy to go shopping and jolly myself into the holiday season without shooting out speakers playing Christmas music.  I’ll get through the spending, wrapping, and baking.  I like parties and camaraderie.  I’ll enjoy myself despite myself once I force myself into the spirit.

Are you like Jane or me during the holidays?

18 comments:

  1. Bah! Humbug! Is that enough of the Christmas spirit?

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  2. Hi Linda, I almost missed this post as I was celebrating at Winter Wonderland at Centre Parcs. I'm glad I give you a little boost, I can never ever imagine not feeling like this at Christmas, perhaps I never grew up? Now I have Daisy the whole cycle can begin again and by the time she is an adult I will probably be too old to mind ;0) Merry Christmas my friend with a loud ho ho ho! I love your gorgeous illustrations, they would make great cards! ;0) xx

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  3. lolol...I just saw this come up in my reader...I hadn't nearly missed it after all...this week has been so hectic...so here I am again saying hi and keep those spirits up xx

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    1. Thanks Jane! Even while I'm bah humbugging I'm still glad that you're out there making memories for Daisy and managing to make me smile for the season :)

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  4. Can I send you a New Year's card? I've been painting nothing but sheep for weeks in preparation for the Year of the Sheep (my birth year).

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    1. I'd love a New Year's card! How nice of you to offer. Baaaaa... I've always liked sheep :)

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  5. I guess I'm somewhere in the middle. I love Christmas trees with twinkly lights but I don't like shopping--except for treasure hunting at thrift stores--so most of my gifts (sometimes all) come from there. In my mind, it's Advent, not yet the Christmas season--which starts Christmas Day and lasts twelve days till Epiphany. Which gives me the perfect reason to procrastinate on both putting up and taking down decorations. Its good I live in the country, homeschool and have some like-minded local friends so our thrift-store gifts and late in advent Christmas tree make them happy!

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  6. By "them" above I mean my kids--who aren't surrounded by other kids getting loads of plastic toys or video games or whatever it is people usually give.

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    1. I went to stores on Saturday and managed 1 gift at a thrift store. I'm thinking about hitting pawn shops next :) Yay for your kids who are getting to learn play and gifts less commercially!

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  7. I dunno, your pawn store gain is someone elses loss....and possibly stolen

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  8. I'm more like you, Linda :)
    Jane has more Christmas perkiness than I can handle. (If you're reading this Jane, I think you're wonderful and that we need people like you to spread the joy!)

    It's the shopping. I hate it. Literally. Last year, I did it online and that helped a lot. I enjoy Thanksgiving SO much better.
    Oops, I'm messing up your happy place, Linda. lol

    Glad you got those moccasins way back when. How special. Funny... Seeing the joy on the faces of others is the best part of Christmas. Must be something to those store bought gifts.

    I like the colors against your dark background in the illustrations.

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  9. In the end I went to JC Penney's instead of the pawn shops. It did occur to me that items there were sad for one reason or another. I do enjoy making other people happy once I have the gifts to give. Maybe I just need a personal shopper? Thanks for the comments!

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  10. It has been some time since my last visit to your blog...always a crowd pleaser; thought provoking and beautiful illustrations!

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  11. Spot on. Soft Christmas presents always sucked when I was a kid. But today's excess has nothing with that deep pleasure coming with present given from the heart.

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  12. Linda, I'm like you and the best Christmas gift is having a nice family time. I like to give books because books stay. Noting excessive, dinner is vegan and our tree lives on our balcony. Christmas is about being thankful. I wish you a merry Christmas and all the best creative wishes for 2015.
    May we meet one day and have a cup of tea together.
    Love, Paula (moving to Ireland in January 2015).

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  13. At last, honesty. Much appreciated at this season, when it seems as though so much gets covered with gilt and frenzy, and meaningful time seems to slip through the fingers. I used to love buying gifts - and I realize it was when the kids were small, and money was scarce. Buying for someone when they might not be able to get something they really wanted felt wonderful. And making something for them, ditto. I still buy a few gifts, but these days I spend more energy and time doing things for the holidays, the annual family gathering to cut a tree... making cookies with my son and his friends, laying up a store of shared hours in memory that will hopefully be more meaningful down the road than whatever the latest video game was this year.

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  14. I tend toward the humbug side of the scale too, Linda. When I'm feeling especially humbug-ish, I think of this time of year (from pre-Thanksgiving to New Year's Day) as the "shop and be happy on cue" season. Baaah. HOWEVER, I've always loved finding (and getting!) the perfect gifts. *That* seems like a worthy tradition to me, and maybe we could start a movement of, say, the first Friday of every month being Surprise Gift Day…but with participation being strictly optional? :-)

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  15. If I ever get to Ireland I'd really like a cup of tea Paula! I'm still growling about my inept shopping. I'm thinking of telling everyone that the intent was there, but... or maybe don't buy me anything because I can't figure out what to get you? Thanks for the comments! Wishing everyone the happiest of holidays and the best new year too.

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