Blog / 2024 / Heart Messenger

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

This painting is one of the card designs I sent out this year to wish people a happy new year. Usually, the process of handwriting a hundred or so cards full of happy feelings soothes me, but this year it was hard. I found myself stumbling over the words each time. How do you wish people good things when the future is sure to be dominated by greed and violence? How to hope for the best when the so-called leader of the free world believes that, in order for him to win, everyone else must lose?

I wanted to paint a cardinal for a new year’s hello because I love the brightness of this bird. You may have noticed I tend towards bright colors in my art, but I also appreciate them more generally. Every time I see a saturated color out in the world it pleases me. No shade on the other shades or on all the greys and beiges that permeate our world—I’m not self-centered enough to think that my taste has to be everyone’s. That said, it does give me a little squee when someone makes a non-muted choice.

Which brings me to the cardinal. No choice for them, obviously, but living so near these birds still brings me joy. For years, I was in Oregon, where there aren’t any cardinals. Since moving to the east coast, seeing such a vibrant color flitting around my everyday hasn’t gotten old. It’s clear to me why some people think that cardinals are messengers from another world. It’s hard not to assign a little bit of magic to these birds.

And that brings me back to the New Year’s cards I sent out. I think the next few years are going to be hard, both globally and individually. Every morning, I find myself picking through the layers of emotional swaddling, trying to touch the skin of my heart, trying to really feel my feelings. And every night I tuck myself in, my heart wrapped up tight, anything to keep it calm. I can’t seem to stop myself from muffling my feelings throughout the day. I guess because the alternative is so painful. Still, I’ve decided that the cardinals and any other bits of brightness I come across can act as messengers from my heart. I’ll let them remind me to feel all my feelings now and again, so my protective swaddling doesn’t accidentally become suffocation.

I’m sending you best wishes for 2025! May your heart’s most vital messages continue to be heard!