It's Christmas deer!

I don’t celebrate Christmas in the sense of Christ. I celebrate it in the sense of Ziemassvētki, which directly translates as winter celebration. So most of the Christmas songs make no sense to me even though they are quite beautiful. I feel like there are no rules when it comes to celebrations. They can be whatever you wish them to be for you. You can make your traditions and rituals. You don’t have to buy people gifts if you don’t feel like doing so. You don’t have to decorate and compete with who has the brightest lights. You can do whatever makes your heart sing instead.

So what sparks joy for me about Christmas? Well. I love sneaking around in the forest looking for the big tree. I love the feeling when you have wandered around and there it emerges in front of you, and you know it is the one. I love the scent it brings to the house. I love watching our over 11-year-old cat turning into a kitten again since she loves playing with the branches, tinsel, and baubles, and it provides her with a spiky hiding place too. I love filling the house with the scent of freshly baked gingerbread cookies, clementines, and mulled wine. I watch Home Alone films. And while it can be stressful at times, I love my family being around.

I often feel that Christmases are a bit sad too or bittersweet, or well, maybe I have been bitter or I’ve felt that it is turning into something commercial, and lame. I have also been a bit ungrateful, I guess or forgetting what it is all about for me. This year has made me think about it a lot. What is important, you know.

I wish you a Merry Christmas wherever in the world you might be! <3

Aww, this festive deer is one of my first digital creations as I was gifted Wacom Cintiq 16 for my 31st trip around the sun. I am using Autodesk SketchBook, and so far, I am very pleased with what it has to offer. So many diverse brushes, and it is free for everyone, which I find incredible. So much to learn, so much fun! Layering, shading, smoothing, color combining, blending, backgrounding! Oh my oh my! It is not as easy as it looks at all. Sure, you can undo mistakes, but to make it look like something takes some serious effort.

To find the right brushes, to make them do what you wish them to do is hard. It can also be hard because there are so many choices of different tools to use that it can be overwhelming. I think I started with expectations that the tools will behave the same way as real brushes and paper would. I quickly learned that it is not so at all. In the digital journey, everything’s new. I will have to discover my digital style, as I have discovered my traditional style. Nonetheless, I am so excited!