The hearts are still talking to me. I know... these are kind of edgy and intense coming from someone who usually does happy flowers and cupcakes...

I seem to have a "gift" for literally feeling other people's pain. Lately it's been coming at me relentlessly from all sides - from people I know, and also from the world as a whole. There's an awful lot of pain in the world these days. We're living in hard, harsh, and still beautiful times. There's so much possibility to make things better. But first it's important to shine a light on the dark places, so we know what we're dealing with. I needed to find a way of directing what I was feeling into something positive, and for me, that almost always means my work. Paul Stankard told the members of the ISGB last summer that we are all holy people, and that our work is our prayer. Yes.

Two songs were in my head as I made these...
Michael Franti sings, "I let go of a broken heart. I let go to an open heart." And Leonard Cohen's "Anthem" brings me to me knees every time I hear it... ..."there's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in...". Click the links on the artist's names to hear the songs. You'll see what I mean.

And so, these hearts begin my "Broken Heart" series. They're my prayer for the broken hearted people of the world, whether I know them or not, and whether they ever see these or not. A broken heart is also an open heart. Once the light gets in, amazing things can happen.