Haiku: Gaze down at your feet - Every tiny blossom head - Was once imagined 🌸— Fenix
Clockwise from left: Dylan x3 🎉 Also, planting seeds, recording piano, park flowers, car bed rest & ‘lasagne’ planted tulips have arrived!
Hello friend,
I truly hope that the beginning of spring is spreading its joy to you as we see much of the world bringing new growth slowly outwards.
You did not hear from me mid-month because I have been going through health challenges, but I am so grateful to finally have some medical explanations after decades of not knowing. The not-so-great news is that I have to go extremely slowly 🐌 with difficult days needing total rest. Thankful for my partner, and my Dylan puppy who have been steady as the sunrise. Also thankful to my optimistic brain which keeps me going.
The haiku I’ve written for you today, in a way I think, is how creativity is born. Imagining and experiencing brings inspiration and ideas through. The magic seems to build if ideas are handled carefully in their initial raw form, trying not to load them with expectations (which may turn them rigid, or cause them to fall away), and guarding them privately until they feel stronger. By following the unfolding with trust, diving into the joy of it, and expecting that there will be elements of surprise, something firmer takes form.
For me, this often looks like different pieces of music bubbling away for months or years at a time in secret (except for a few supportive/interested people who I might share with). I accept that some will remain half-cooked, I will have a trillion weird voice notes of beats and melodies I forget about(!), and others may arrive almost fully-formed, or become complete after multiple sessions tending to them.
All of my complete work is not without what I see as some smaller imperfections, and I think that these are natural because I have to stop working on the songs at some point & sometimes have to go with decisions. I can change my mind about completed pieces, but generally I feel a certain settled feeling in my chest when they're ready to go. I always try to be respectful and thankful about all creations, knowing that my inner child has been the magician tending to the magic!
If we think of a blossom tree as a whole for example, we walk past admiring it despite some browning blossoms, or wonky flowers. In fact we might not even notice these things unless we start to study them closely (like the way many of us listen to a song for the first time, versus the hundredth!) Those tiny extra details can be the most endearing parts, too if noticed, showing the tree’s character, the beauty of time passing, and ageing life.
My creativity is a beacon for me, and has always been an antidote to feeling behind, building a sense of recovering, and feelings of excitement and hope. A lifelong gift of mine has been an ability to notice the many pearls and diamonds of details in the experiences there are to have in life, amidst the tricky and the mundane. In admiring others, taking in nature, patterns, and feeling free!
Above: From the film ‘Francis Ha’
So, the news for you is that taking this skill of mine to notice and to wonder, I have been gathering some of these ‘experiences’, and using them as springboards to channel into music which has surprised me over and over. For over two years I wrote random pieces written here and there, not realising that these experiments would connect. One Sunday morning I sat in bed listening to them all and saw a map of an album appearing before my eyes as I wrote about the themes of each. This was astonishing & exhilarating stuff, I've got to tell you!
I am going to release the album in four chapters beginning with late spring, arranging pieces to reflect the energy of each of the four seasons. The music is ambient, meditative, electronic music with some voice, but focuses on non-verbal sound primarily. There will also be visual films to reflect the music, and live sounds (field recordings) woven through the music to add another layer of storytelling (think crunchy snow recorded in my garden whilst wearing a dressing gown!)
Now is the time to comb through the music for chapter one of the album and send it off to set sail (fingers crossed!) 🌬️
Hope to share more news soon, and will leave you with a few bonus pieces of creative inspo, below.
Love to you,
Fenix
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☕ Creative things I'd tell you about over coffee:
I keep thinking about a rainbow photo series by Paul Octavious of precious dogs, which I think is the most wonderful and unique style of photos I've seen in some time. Paul is a creative genius imo and I have been following them for years. I find their art energising, imaginative and there is a finesse about it that makes you want to lean in.
You can scroll to see Paul’s rainbow portraits and other work on Instagram, here. & This is Paul in a photo taken under the rainbow neon lights 🌈:
Completely random link for you next (thanks, ADHD!), as I'm often thinking about the genius of Donald O’Connor in Singing in the Rain. Remarkable! His face wash like rubber!
It will make you smile, I'm sure
Reminder: Don’t forget to look up at the sky this week… it is an ocean for the imagination to wander/wonder…
Take care! :)))
Thank you for reading! So much!
Beautiful post! Love it x