A different kind of energy

We are towards the end of Autumn in the uk, and our trees have been showing off beautifully!   

We have a large acer tree in our back garden and it gets the morning sun for a short while.  It’s simply blazes for a few weeks.

As I travelled across the Peak District moors recently, one second light was sharply illuminating this old stone building and the next we were in the thick of fog and an entirely different quality of light and colour.  

Although the time of day, landscape and light source were the same, there feels to be a completely different kind of energy in the two. It’s something that I’ve been mulling over recently. In nature, our trees are pulling back all that they need for winter and pushing off the leaves once spent. It’s a different energy to spring, I mean, it’s almost literally going the other way! Growing outwards, retreating inwards. It catches my spirit each year to see the autumn blaze born out of retreat. I do think when we are more attuned to nature, there is merit in accepting seasonal energies, either mirroring them as they happen or recognising more of a psychological season we might be in. All are equal, all are vital.

I’ve been immersed in an excellent creative coaching programme called Vision and Voice (Insight Creative Coaching).  I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what it is I want in my painting and we were asked to consider a feeling word. I want some energy to come across but in particular, a sense of ‘untamed’. It’s risky and exciting and unfamiliar at the moment so I’m leaving space to hold this fledgling intention until I’ve had time to explore further. But I have a much better understanding of how to support myself in this creative practice in order to bring my vision forwards. It’s been wonderful and insightful couple of months.

Then I noticed that I didn’t feel the same about my textile art. I have been wondering if my practice and process there was devoid of emotion when I think of the more energetic nature of painting wildly and the arty mess around the studio! But eventually (and it’s why this blog has been a while coming) I’ve worked out that there is simply a different kind of energy behind my textiles. I’m usually in ‘maker’ mode and emotion is not such an upfront intention.  It’s often about meaning or telling a story for me accompanied by a lot of thought around form and construction etc.  Feelings most often come later when a piece of work has arrived and told me why else it needed to be made.  And a lot of what I do is intentionally quiet and slow.

I’ve also had confirmation of how much of a ‘both/and’ person I am! I knew that already but the coaching has settled this even further. Textiles and painting feel like the two sides of me. Whilst I’m aware of how the two practices influence each other, how there is crossover, different energies inhabit them at least for now.

Then there’s the physical energy of a day. I’m definitely a ‘lark’ and awake early so I know to paint or work things out in a morning. Come evening, energy has left the building so that’s the quiet occupation of hand-stitch in pyjamas! Different energy. Or more likely none left! 🤣

Anyway, I’m excited to be at the beginning of a slightly new approach in painting.  Once things have settled I will share some more but I’m cocooning for now to give time for some change 🙂. I wonder if you create in more than one way and whether the energy feels similar or different? I’d love to know.

In terms of catching up,  I’ve been creating a tiny matchbox concertina book each month as part of a project with a friend.  It’s lovely to consider words and phrases about each month as it goes by and to find some particular colours and marks.   When they are all lined up, there is definitely a subtle shift in colour palette from one to the next.  Two months left, I wonder what they will bring..?

And ‘A Yellow Dress’ continues to be my sewing trug companion as it will be next year.  I’m about half way up the front.  The colour drifts I was hoping for are now starting to be visible.  They swirl and connect when looked at from a distance and the cloth pieces and stitch become as one as I stitch each section, responding to the one before.   The story behind this piece is on a blog a couple of months ago, and when I look at it, I’ve been noticing that all the colours are jewelled. I wonder if that has something to say …🤔

Here are some close-ups…

I’m off to Knitting and Stitching Harrogate for some more inspiration in a couple of weeks so the final blog for this year is likely to be a Christmas time one.   How in the world can that have come around so soon!

Until then, happy creating…

What people think of as the moment of discovery is really the discovery of the question.” 

Jonas Salk