Firebird Painting That Found Me Again

In this voice note for the Wisdom for Wannabes blog, Jackie Morreale reflects on a significant gift she received during Christmas 2025 — a silk painting she had created two decades prior, which her grandmother had carefully kept, and her mother had thought to have framed. This piece serves as a time capsule, reminding her of her artistic roots and the journey she has taken as a designer, mother, and entrepreneur. Jackie discusses the importance of family support, the evolution of her artistic vision, and the wisdom gained through experience. She encourages listeners to reconnect with their own forgotten selves and embrace new beginnings as they look ahead to 2026.
 
Takeaways:​

• Art can encapsulate moments and emotions from our lives, as a powerful reminder of the past.
• Family support is crucial, even when perspectives differ.
• Personal growth often comes from revisiting our roots.
• Creativity is a journey that evolves over time.
• Wisdom gained through experience shapes our current selves.
• Embracing change can lead to new opportunities.
• Reflection can help us understand our true selves.
• It's important to listen to our intuition and follow our passions.
• Every ending can lead to a new beginning.

Transcript:

Hi there. My name is Jackie Morreale and I am the host of Wisdom for Wannabes. I am joined today by a firebird artwork that found me again.

This Christmas 2025 has already come and gone. Like every year, it carried with it a familiar warmth of giving and togetherness and reflection.

But this year, I received something completely unexpected, a gift that didn't just make me smile, it allowed me to revisit the past. Not in that nostalgic, "wasn't that so nice" kind of a way, but as a living time capsule.

A message from the person that I was 20 years ago, arriving precisely when the person I am today needed it most.

My mother brought me a framed painted silk piece that I created two decades ago. Back when I was a young designer in New York City, fresh out of school, painting silk in my parents' basement. Back when all I wanted to do, literally all I wanted to do, was paint whichever visions lived in my head.

Selling to stores came later, business plans came later, expectations came later.

At the beginning, all there was was silk, dye, movement, and instinct.

I learned a silk painting technique in school and it felt magical. Applying it to these scarves made for wearable artwork that someone could actually live inside. But seeing this piece now, 20 years later, framed, hanging on the wall, I'm reminded that it was always more than just fashion. The watercolor blending, the motion, the way the colors breathed life into each other. It was just meant to live.

The piece had originally been purchased by my grandmother, who's now 99 years old. (Hi, Grandma!) My mother found this silk painting in her possession, a firebird that I had created all those years ago, and she decided to frame it.

The image is striking.

It's a firebird with three red feathers emerging from its slender head. It has long, powerful wings layered in warm red hues and glowing tones. A dramatic curling tail feather rising from the flames beneath it. Behind it is a sky washed in cool rainbow-like hues.

Twenty years ago, it may have just been something "pretty," but today it feels prophetic.

Because here I am after two decades of trying to figure out who I am as a businesswoman. 

A designer, a mother.

A human standing in a moment of pause, a moment of surrender, a moment of following life's current instead of treading against it. Back to being an artist, into new waters as an entrepreneur, a writer, and someone who thinks outside of the box, just like that young woman painting silk in the basement.

Back then, we didn't document everything. We didn't have iPhones. We didn't have endless photo libraries. Files were saved on CDs. Computers came and went. And every single silk scarf that I made during that time was either sold or given away at flea markets, house sales, small boutiques, trunk shows, even department stores.

I didn't keep one.

So to have this firebird returned to me, something that I made with my hands, with my imagination, and with my whole a year of enormous change, healing, and transformation, it feels intentional.

It feels like timing.

I'm grateful for my mother who has always had an eye for art, always supported my creativity, and for thinking to bring this piece back to me now. (Hi, Mom!) She's the best at giving a subtle nudge, a window opening, and a reminder that maybe this artist path is not behind me but ahead.

I look at this firebird now...and I see myself.

Not just emerging from the ashes, but remembering who I've always been.

I was pretty scrappy back then, literally "material"-istic. Every dollar I had went into fabric, trim, samples, creation. I showed collections in New York City. I pitched lines to department stores. I sold pieces to buyers out of a room that I rented off of Fifth Avenue, more like closet, but it was a room.

All made by hand, with my family.

And when I committed to fulfilling an order, I fulfilled it no matter what. That same determination lives in me now, in my books, these three that 2025 has brought me, and more to come. In my deadlines, my promises to myself.

The difference has been wisdom.

I'm the same person but now with experience, perspective, motherhood, and a deeper understanding of putting others first.

My mother and I don't always see eye to eye. But she shows up and she always has. She understands the artist in me and has always supported that part of who I am.

I don't exactly know why I'm being led down this path right now. I just know that I am.

Maybe that's why I painted the firebird 20 years ago too. For this moment, now, for this remembering: who I was, who I am, and who I'm becoming.

No matter what, I'll always emerge from the ashes.

Looking ahead to 2026:

• What part of yourself have you forgotten?
  
• What's waiting to find you again?
  
• What's your firebird painting?

Reflecting on a wonderful 2025, and wishing you the best year yet for 2026.

Become new by remembering who you are.