Remembering that Christmas is an art...

"Dreaming Matilda"  Acrylic on Canvas  16"x16" (c)2011 by Sabrina Hill

"A Cat and Some Canaries" Acrylic on Canvas  16"x16" (c)2011 by Sabrina Hill

Many years ago, when my children were smaller and Christmas comings and going were more secretive, I spent the days and weeks before the holidays in frantic hoarding mode. I felt I simply had to get each child the same number of gifts, with the same total value or I would be labeled an unfit mother by the gift police or who ever monitors a mother's Christmas comings and goings. One year, I was particularly frantic over a general lack of money and a growing list of kid-wants and general needs (underwear, socks, pajamas). I really felt the joy of Christmas slip away, replaced by bitchiness, anger, and worry. 

This particular holiday, I had decided that I would paint each person in my family a canvas, a picture with great meaning to each one. Of course, this would be in addition to the same amount of shopping that I had always done, so the stress levels were through the roof! And I cracked under the strain of unpainted canvases, lined up like blank-faced reminders of imminent failure and lists of unpurchased gifts which I probably couldn't afford. I boo-hoo'd to my husband (secretly hoping to inspire hi, to work harder, do more crowns and provide more cash-o-la). Instead he said in his simple, forthright way. "Paint because you love it, and forget the rest. Your paintings are the gifts." Sometimes he is brilliant(which is why he married me)! 

So I painted and painted and painted...I did 8 paintings that year in time for the holidays. I was excited as hell for Christmas morning. I couldn't wait for everyone to see what I had done, praise my talent, blah, blah, blah... At the appointed gift-giving hour, the wrapping came off, there were some enthusiastic ooohs and ahhs, but mostly there was a tepid response to the gifts of my soul on canvas. It was a one of my favorite Christmases...no, I did not get the responses I wanted, thought I would get, or SHOULD have gotten, but....I had thoroughly enjoyed the painting process. I loved making the art. So, if nobody liked my gifts, so what, I liked them because I liked the process of thinking about the family member's likes and interests and coming up with a way to represent those thoughts on canvas. 

This year, at the encouragement of my dear neighbor and friend, artist Janet Kruskamp, I held my first art show. It was a blast, and I didn't sell one painting (yet!). What I did do was paint. I looked at the life around me--kids, dogs, cats, donuts, and I painted it. So as I travel through this Christmas season, I am remembering to look at the art of life, the delicate balances that remind us of family, home, and the hearths we return to. Above are two paintings from the art show....Merry Christmas