GREETINGS FROM THE HEART

Oh brave new world!

With e-cards like the virtual Valentine gobbling up an increasing share of the greetings market, even giants like Hallmark have felt obliged to enter the fray. No longer can they rely exclusively on their hammerlock on retail card space. They must, and do, offer online greeting cards. Though, in my opinion, they lack the freshness and originality of many of the new voices being heard on the Internet.

The beauty of the Virtual Valentine is that it allows so many new artists to enter the field. Everything from the beautifully orchestrated animations of English artist, Jacqui Lawson, to the outrageous craziness of Rubber Chicken Cards. My own new website, www.egoddesscards.com, expanding upon my inventory of “real” Goddess Cards, is just one example of how a small, independent card company can grow on a level playing field in the heady freedom of the Internet environment.

E-cards are mean, and green. No trees will perish, no toxic inks spill! No more physical inventory to print, store, sell, and ship. Just the blissful freedom to create, and seek one’s audience on the World Wide Web.

There will always be a place for real Valentines (and other cards), of course. People love to receive cards they can hold, set on the mantle, and read over and over again. Victorians, who launched the whole commercial card industry, treasured their greetings from the heart so highly, that they preserved them in albums so they could be enjoyed forever. The charitable cut out the images, and pasted them in books that they gave to the poor, or to people in hospitals, to brighten their days and expose them to the healing influence of art.

Still, the dawn of the Virtual Valentine, and virtual greetings of every kind, is an exciting development ~ for artists, and non-artists alike. It is the most democratic and freewheeling advance in the history of communication and the greeting card industry that I can imagine. Who knows what will come next?

We’ve come a long way from the Middle Ages. In 2010, you don’t have to be rich or privileged to send a special greeting. You can write a letter, send an email, or create your own card. Alternatively, you can select from a field of real and virtual options that boggle the mind. Real paper cards are beautiful, and plentiful. Virtual cards offer ease and speed of delivery, affordability, and, in the best of them, astonishing creativity.You choose.

So Happy Valentines Day! This is your reminder. Make someone happy with a message only you could send.