“Anam Cara” is a Gaelic term for “soul friend.”
A soul friend is someone who is a true friend and partner of our soul — who listens with deep understanding, speaks the truth in love. A soul friend isn’t usually a romantic partner, our “significant other” or spouse. An anam cara is a special kind of intimate friend.
The Irish poet and priest John O’Donohue wrote the book, Anam Cara, that popularized this term and thus gave me the name for the series of small, intimate paintings I call the Anam Cara paintings.
The paintings I call Anam Cara Paintings are meant to be the user’s true and encouraging friend — companions on the spiritual journey.
My aim is to make paintings that seem not so much to tell you something — rather, to listen to you.
They’re meant to listen deeply — to evoke your heart’s knowing of your true path. Perhaps give you a nudge when you’re off your path.
An anam cara painting is much like a human anam cara — except that a human friend can’t always answer the phone, or travel with you. (And sometimes human friends get annoyed with us.)
An anam cara painting can travel with you. And be here for you 24/7.
So I make them lightweight and sturdy, on archival Ampersand™ gessobord. And I make them small enough to perch comfortably next to your computer as you work — or on a bedside table. Most are square — expressing a reassuring stability in a world that can seem chaotic.
Note: I add relevant books to my site to make it easy to find out more about them. If you do shop at Amazon from a link here, I receive a small commission as an Amazon Associate. And…here’s a link to more about O’Donohue’s “Anam Cara” at a wonderful site, Brain Pickings.
All the Anam Cara paintings are sourced in the song “Just the Way You Are,” as if the song is a love song from God to us — to me, to you. I tell about this in Anam Cara Part 1.
-> Story: Anam Cara Part 1
-> View Anam Cara Paintings