Art Cards for the Turning Year – beginning before the year begins
I wanted to begin this practice before the new year officially starts.
Not with resolutions.
Not with goals.
But with a pause.
New Year’s Eve has always felt like a threshold to me — a moment that belongs to neither the year that’s ending nor the one that’s about to begin. It’s a quieter space, and it felt like the right place to make the first mark.
So this morning, I made my first Art Card for the Turning Year.
Why a threshold, not a resolution
I’ve learned over time that I don’t respond well to pressure disguised as optimism.
January is often full of instructions:
be better, do more, decide now.
This card is a refusal of that.
The Year Threshold card is about:
- noticing where I am
- acknowledging what has carried me
- beginning slowly, without rushing ahead
It doesn’t ask anything of me except attention.
Making the card
The front of the card is simple:
a hand-drawn circular wreath, made with loose lines and soft colour.
The circle felt important — a reminder that the year isn’t a straight line, but a cycle. Nothing really starts from scratch. We return, again and again, to familiar places, but slightly changed.
I didn’t aim for perfection.
I stopped before it felt finished.
That incompleteness is part of the meaning.
What’s written on the back
On the back of the card, I kept the structure simple and repeatable — something I can return to throughout the year.
Title
Year Threshold
Intention
To notice where I am, without rushing ahead.
Practice
Hold the card for a moment.
Take three slow breaths.
Write three words for the year ahead — qualities, not goals.
Those three words are mine alone.
They don’t need explaining.
They don’t need to be acted on immediately.
They’re simply there to be lived into.
This is what the practice looks like
This card sets the tone for the whole year.
Art Cards for the Turning Year isn’t a planner, a challenge, or a productivity system. It’s a creative practice rooted in seasons, cycles, and everyday life.
Some weeks I’ll make a card.
Some weeks I won’t.
Sometimes a card will hold a lot.
Sometimes it will be almost empty.
What matters is returning — not keeping up.
An invitation, if you’d like it
If you’re watching this unfold and feeling drawn to it, you’re very welcome to join in.
You don’t need:
- special materials
- artistic confidence
- a fixed start date
You can begin today, tomorrow, or in spring.
You can make cards, write notes, or simply notice the weeks passing.
This practice is deliberately small — because small things are easier to live with.
Beginning here
Starting on New Year’s Eve feels like an act of kindness.
Nothing needs to be decided today.
Nothing needs to be improved.
This card simply marks the moment:
here I am, at the turn.
The next card will come in its own time.
If you’d like to follow along, I’ll be sharing the cards as I make them — slowly, honestly, and without pressure.
Ena Green Designs 