The Stuff They Probably Never Hear About

This has been an awful year.

Loss, dysfunction, health woes.

So it shouldn't surprise anyone to hear that I'm not exactly filled with Christmas cheer. I did try to brighten my spirits by spending some time coming up with ideas & creating some stuff for people & sending out surprises but some of that has fallen flat, too.

A little while ago, I sat down at the computer and saw a notification that I had a message from a long-time fan of my artwork - I'll call her G - who became one of my best customers. More than that, though, is that I now consider her my friend.

Anyway, I don't always notice that I have messages because I'm terrible at social media so it was weird that I saw this one right away today.

Here's the message that she sent:

𝘏𝘪 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘯. 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 (note: I occasionally sell greeting cards of my artwork) 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘐 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘓𝘖𝘓. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘶𝘴𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴. 𝘈 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥'𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪e𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘺. 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵. 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺.

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Well, you can imagine that I cried a little bit when I read that message.

And that's the thing right there: "𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭".

I have been told on occasion that my artwork evokes memories in people, reminds them of some faraway place and time. I've had people tell me their stories...because my artwork reminded them of the house or farm they grew up in or some other bittersweet memory that they were compelled to share with me. Oftentimes they'll APOLOGIZE as they tell their story...as if they are burdening me with their sentimentality.

𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 could be further from the truth.

To be told that something you create brings someone back to happy time or reminds them of someone special to them - well, I don't know how to express what that means other than to say it just sincerely doesn't get any better than that.

It's the fuel that sparks my creativity.

It is my personal definition of success.

So my friend G managed to give me a little dose this morning of the (elusive) thing that this season is all about: joy.

Cusp Of Dusk is the name of this piece, that G sent as a card to her grieving friend.

You might think that Cusp Of Dusk looks a little gloomy, but if you look closely, you'll see that the curtain in the second floor window is pulled back a little bit and the light is shining through.

And you know, where there's light, there's hope.

I hope G's friend notices the little window of light on her greeting card and can find a little glimmer of that this season as she nurses her broken heart.

I hope that this little story reminds you to tell people how they've touched you or made a difference to you or stuck up for you or about the time that they (͟f͟i͟l͟l͟ ͟i͟n͟ ͟t͟h͟e͟ ͟b͟l͟a͟n͟k͟)͟ and how it made you laugh/cry/smile/thrive.

Tell them the stuff they probably never hear about.

It's the gift that keeps on giving. I assure you.

Merry Christmas,