Seasonal creativity - moments lost in time.

Meandering through creative seasonal moments.

Seasonal creativity creates space in our lives where we can get a wee bit lost in time. When we truly inhabit the natural world we move through the seasons effortlessly. I live on a small Scottish island with four distinct seasons and all of my creative work is influenced by this shfting time. In Japan they have 72 seasons and I find that endlessly fascinating. There is a super wee app called 72 seasons if you are interested. At the time of writing (28th April) we are in the (roughly translated) ‘the frost stops & the rice grows’ season in the ancient Japanese calendar. A couple of weeks ago we were in ‘the geese returning’ season and on the island geese could be seen and heard returning. Joyful.

I do not live in Japan so I will stick to my four seasons. Technically only summer and winter are full seasons. Spring and Autumn are transitional seasons. Winter is, by far, my favourite season and when I do my best thinking. Spring is adorable for all its constant small changes. I had a ‘happy dance’ moment today discovering my first cow parsley of the new season. There is something sublime about the edges of my garden at this time of year as cow parsley and bluebells weave the most beautiful tapestry.

Spring creative moments, for me, are all about the promise of what is to come with one notable exception - blossom. Of course, it does offer us promise as the first buds burst but the difference here is one of time. Blossom teaches us about transience as it is so fleeting. I like to think that the short burst of lovliness reminds me each and every year to live every small moment. If you want to see how I made sense of blossom this year I have a wee film on it including a peek into my take on art journaling.

Art journaling is a seasonal activity where I can, very easily, get lost in time. Building a page is a slow meander not a mad dash to completion.

At this time of year you will find my in my polytunnel on most hours of most days planting seeds, taking cuttings and potting on ready for a summer of beautiful and life affirming growth. I am a passionate flower presser since beginning this beautiful activity when I was a small child. It is another seasonal activity that I can get lost in. Although summer is the time for most of my pressing early blooms such as the delicate wee violas are already in bloom. Careful only to pick a couple from each plant, my flower pressing activities for the year are already underway. You can always see evidence of this activity over in my Etsy store. My favourite occupation is to make wee pressed flower story cards by first washing the cards with homemade botanical ink. I have just made a couple of bottles of daffodil ink. We all need yellow in our lives.

So, the promise that is spring has already provided me with seasonal creative moments that I can cherish. Inhabiting the natural world with our creativity teaches the human spirit a great deal and is to be recommended.

Postscript

I was honoured to write a serious of digital workbooks in 2021/2022 with Charlotte Treglown from Ribble Recycled. If you would like to join us in exploring your creativity through seasonal activities the full range is available in my Etsy store.