Summer, Sadness and Creativity

A little update

Dear Friends

Just sending a little update as it’s been a while. Last weekend it was the Summer Solstice. Do you celebrate or mark this festival?

I spent some time in nature and made this little video about my observations. It’s a little tour of the nature in my village which calls out to me at this time of year. Meet damselfly, crayfish, meadowsweet and more. WATCH NOW

Where do you put your sadness? Sadness is a bit like rain. Clear blue skies can quickly change to a downpour. Sometimes when we are sad or tired we can turn on ourselves and be quite mean. But what if we greeted our sadness, the same way we greeted our best friend’s sadness? I like to put my sadness in things I make. You can hear it in some of my songs, see it in my art, or recently I’ve been crocheting my sadness. I’ve been making this crochet waistcoat during summer solstice, so I am reminded of this time of year in the colder (and sometimes sadder) months. Most of my creativity is born out of difficulty. I am drawn to making beautiful things, to draw me into beautiful states. I’ve recently been reading about repetitive activity and ADHD. I think all my repetitive creativity has helped my brain a lot. If you are local I am starting Singing and Stitching classes soon on thursday nights, keep your eyes peeled.

We continue to make progress with the album. We have moved our studio to Hannah’s outhouse, so we can permanently leave our gear out. Here’s a little snap shot of our draped fabric sound treatment (pro tip to sound treat a home studio : duvets and picnic blankets are your friend) In this test recording, Hannah played the flute. We might add it to a song or two, or we might stick to pure voices, let’s see.

Hope you are enjoying the sunny weather (if you have it where you are) And if it rainy or you are sad, please be kind to yourself.

LOVE ALWAYS WINS

XOXOXOX