Friends old and new celebrated through Christmas cards

I do love Christmas as a time for getting in touch with friends. I write a lot of Christmas cards and love the communication of them. I always use my own images for the card itself so I also communicate with my artwork trying to find one that encapsulates the year for me, it might be a wild animal, dancers,  or a someone mysterious in a feathered mask. Since I get my own cards printed I can choose the overall message that I want to convey in it. And of course it will mention somewhere on it that I painted the picture, the title of it,  my website details, and maybe other contact details too.

But as well as that I love to put a note or small letter to pass on information or news. I send cards to people I’ve worked with many  years ago, my artist friends, my extended family (having loads of cousins scattered around the country), people who have bought artwork from me, people I hope will buy artwork from me, and friends old and new. There are always new people to add to the list each year, and the occasional one that unfortunately falls from the list due to their sad demise.

I love to hear from my friends too, eagerly reading their news and smiling at their happy achievements. We might only write to each other once a year but I love that connection of comunication. I have had cards every year from an English couple since I met them whilst on a tour of west coast USA in 1995 always telling each other of where we have visited this last year and are planning on visiting this coming year. I have cards from old friends I’ve known literally all my life, and good friends I have known less than a couple of years. I exchange cards with the people I bought this house from, and from people who have bought a lot of my paintings from me, people I’ve met at art workshops, and people fascinated with my artistic career. All good friends.