This Little Light Of Mine

photo © Nicki Ault, 2016

I had every intention of writing a message on Christmas night, but the turkey coma set in and the tryptophan won. I was not good for much of anything once we returned from Christmas dinner at my parents, so here I am on Boxing Day night offering you a somewhat belated wish for a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday, whatever you may celebrate. 

photo © Nicki Ault, 2016

I feel like 2016 has been a dark year: so much peril around the world, political unrest, and the loss of so many cherished artists/musicians. It has been unrelenting in so many ways and I am fearful that 2017 may be even worse. So this post is all about light. I feel like we must be vigilant in the need to burn our own personal light of beauty and hope, compassion and empathy like we have never needed to before. Our children deserve this much from us.

"There is a crack in everything, that is how the light gets in."

~ Leonard Cohen (Selected Poems 1956-1968)

“We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are.”
~J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix)

photo © Nicki Ault, 2016

“How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.”

~William Shakespeare (The Merchant of Venice) 

 “Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someone’s life. Be the light that helps others see; it is what gives life its deepest significance.”
~Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)

 photo © Nicki Ault, 2016

“We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things; because the shadow always follows. Choose a place where you won't do harm - yes, choose a place where you won't do very much harm, and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine.”
~ E.M. Forster, (A Room With A View)

“May your feet ever walk in the light of two suns... and may the moonshadow never fall on you... ”
~ Robert Fanney

Thank you for the part you play in helping me to shine my little light through art... whether it be by reading this blog, following me on Facebook or Instagram, coming to my art shows, leaving me comments and messages, or by actually purchasing a painting. All of it matters to me and all of it is appreciated.

May you face the sunshine in 2017.
 XO

~Nicki