Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas Day

The image is one of my first attempts at the Japanese art of woodblock (ukiyo-e and shin hanga), and we used it on the family Yule card this year. The image knits up (I think) so many valuable and important notions: nature, wildness and simplicity, light, peace and non-duality, the "suchness" of things, the timeless Japanese ethic which finds its expression in "wabi-sabi".

The best greeting of all for this day is the one used by a dear friend to close her messages all year long, "Wishing you love and light...". To her words, I add my own this morning:

"Wishing you a lighted tree and a fire on your hearth, a comfortable chair nearby. Wishing you the companionship of clan and kindred spirits and friends from far and near. Bright blessings in this holiday season. May all good things come to you!"

10 comments:

Shell said...

Beautiful Yule card. It's simple and clean. Many blessings to you.

Anonymous said...

Just brightful, joyful, beautiful, simple yet fulfilling. This is very you. May bountiful blessings come your way forever...

Louise

The Riverbum said...

Best wishes for the New Year!

Debbie said...

Ahhhhh, your card is stunning in her simplicity! Thank you for sharing it with us and for your Christmas blessing. Asking and wishing the very same for you, dearest sister.

Lovin' twinkles and *huge* hugs,

Suzanne said...

Every post is a gift from you, Cate. Thank you for this extra special Christmas blessing.

May you walk in beauty all the days of your life,

Suzanne

Amberchlopaz said...

Lovely. Thank you. :-) Joyce

Fran aka Redondowriter said...

Very beautiful card, Natalie. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas--and will have a great Boxing Day tomorrow.

And now we "clean house" internally to empty out 2008 and welcome 2009. I have a lot of cleaning to do internally and externally.

Fran aka Redondowriter said...

Whoops! I just commented and for some reason I thought I was on Blaugustine's blog.

I still love the card and all your beautiful photos in earlier posts.

What I said to Natalie I say to you, too.

Anonymous said...

I love woodblock prints and this is beautiful! Happy new year to you and yours

Val said...

This is one of your FIRST attempts?! I look forward to seeing some more.


The image is very beautiful, though for me, I feel it maybe perhaps too cheerful for wabi-sabi, the ribbon doesnt look desolate enough. Too much hope :o)

Gosh, I didnt mean that to sound critical!