– the light in the dark time

When the days get shorter and it doesn’t really want to get light on some days, a space emerges that no other month creates: an in-between place full of memories, longings and small wonders. December has its very own magic.

This time carries a special weight. The days of Advent not only evoke the glow of lights and anticipation, but also remind us of unsuccessful family gatherings, of those famous meals where we tried to maneuver around the many faux pas and couldn’t really enjoy the second helpings. The desire for harmony and closeness sometimes clashes violently with our everyday reality in our circle of family and friends, especially on this high holiday.

But this is exactly where new paths open up. It is amazing how much healing power lies in the simple sentence: I accept what is. Not with resignation, but with gratitude. As if every experience – even the most messed up – is a pebble that marks our path and shows us how far we have come.

And then art comes into play.

Like a streak of light on the horizon – artistic creativity in drawing, gluing, writing, collecting, arranging or simply marveling at everyday things – gives us distance. Suddenly everything can be a little lighter. A small object, a found object, a splash of color reminds us that even the untidy things in life deserve to be appreciated.

Art is free expression. Let go of control and allow what wants to emerge. Don’t create to prove something, but to breathe freely. Don’t be creative to satisfy, but to remember what is really important to you.

There is a magic in this: we create something new by not rebelling against the old, but by accepting it with kindness. The best gift we can give ourselves is to look at what is happening around us with honest gratitude. We don’t grow because we do everything right, but because we are prepared to capture our own stories in gold – or, if you like, in collages made from fragments of porcelain and flower remnants.

Purple is joie de vivre

And in the midst of this delicate structure of darkness and light, there is a color that suits December particularly well: purple. Or purple, if you like it more familiar. A color of transformation, powerful and mysterious. It stands for change in the darkest time – exactly where the old stories have enough peace to finally be allowed to transform.

I remember some evenings just before Christmas Eve when the evening sky was ablaze with purple flames. A dramatic display, as if nature itself had decided to take to the stage. Whoever or whatever is responsible for this brilliant celestial spectacle – even the sky uses a little artistic staging now and again. Perhaps the coal dust from the nearby colliery was responsible for these vibrant evening colors in the sky over the Ruhr area in my distant childhood! My mother liked to explain to me: “The Christ Child is baking cookies.” As a child, of course, I liked to imagine that.

My artistic work takes me beyond what I have experienced. It lifts me through this time of year with a little less drama. The darkness is not an opponent, but a stage. And I can decide for myself what colors I put on it.

December is a teacher in purple velvet boots. Or a flamingo in a purple plumage: quiet, humorous and stubborn. A month that invites us to honor the unfinished, transform the difficult and embrace the given. And maybe – just maybe – that’s the real magic of this time. Bake this magic into your fragrant Christmas cookies and let them provide surprises in your diverse artistic works.

I wish you a time full of wonder and beautiful moments

And here is another magical and true Christmas story

Every month brings further impetus. So does the pink October and even the gloomy November