The lived moment

As a seasonal artist what does that actually mean?

Welcome to my wee corner of Substack. I am a seasonal artist living on the Isle of Arran, off the west coast of Scotland. I am the custodian of approximately two acres of land that includes a woodland, a meadow and my wee garden. I offer a seasonal book arts project for paid subscribers if you are interested and you can read more about that HERE. Grab a cuppa and lets delve into our relationship with the shifting seasons…..

I have been intrigued how many folk connected with my two previous pieces about ‘pockets of time and space’ as I move into my next decade. It isn’t all older folk either and that has been a surprise. When I wrote about restructuring my life around pockets of time (Small Ambitions) I think some folk could see the merit in this. In our creative worlds it is easy to get swept away by larger projects that seem to steal time away from the art of living. Of course, there is a place for those projects as they often strenghten our creative voices and shift us onwards on our creative journey. However, they can also sap energy and as we age that is an important element to bear in mind. Living so deeply within and around the seasons has taught me the significance of noticing the smallest changes. On my walk this morning a spotted a Californian poppy in flower and one next to it about to burst into flower. They were quite deep in the hedgerow and easily missed. Not by me.

Let us return to the sense that our lives are a series of moments strung on a string that I talked about in the Small Ambitions piece. Let us, this time, remove any sense of age in the discussion. Is there still the argument that, whatever age we are, we need to learn the art of making the most of each and every moment? If so, why is that important and how does our interaction with the shifting seasons help us in that quest?

For me, living each and every moment is important because I am privileged to have that opportunity. Even when the moments are challenging they still exist and I am still living within them. Other folk around me have not been that fortunate and I am always aware of that. However, there is much more to it than that, I feel. Moments are pearls of wisdom and, through our lived experience with them, we grow. This, I think is the essence of the conversation about living within moments. It is through our continual growth that we learn more and more about what we are capable of and the special place we inhabit in the world. By paying close attention to our lived moments we have the ability to reflect and evaluate and then the sense of growth becomes much easier. My late father used to say that the greatest gift he gave his children was to teach them how to step outside themselves and have a good look at themselves. He was, quite possibly, right. So, every so often, I do just that.

In this perpetual state of growth the connection with the shifting seasons is so critical for me. The first thing I think the shifting seasons taught me was security. The sense that things will return gave me great comfort when I was quite a small person. I grew up in a very agriculatural part of the world where harvest time was the biggest collection of moments in the entire year. However busy it got, the community always made time to celebrate when the harvest was complete and that sense of coming together to acknowledge combined effort has always stayed with me. I remember using just that technique as I moved into management and took lots of opportunities to celebrate the team wins with the team. It made for a wonderful working culture that I have always remembered. The seed was absolutely sown in my experience of harvest time as a child. It is the perfect example of living ‘within’ moments that enable us to grow.

At 38 I left my job in a university and retrained in visual arts and since then I am mostly working on my own. I instinctively knew that I wanted to become a seasonal artist and my work has reflected that from almost the first moment of this journey. In taking on this creative challenge I let the seasons lead. I inhabit their moments and connect on a deep level with the smallest seasonal shifts. To do that I have had to turbo charge my ability to ‘notice’. After over 20 years of this way of working not much gets passed me in the natural world around me. This has been fundamental to my ability to continue to grow.

Tiny seasonal stories are all around us all the time and they are often filled with joy. By plugging into them we feel that joy but, for me, these moments afford me the opportunity to shift my thinking into a new space and that is where the magic happens. From there I can begin the creative process of ‘working up an idea’ presented to me by my interaction with the natural world.

Lastly, this connection with seasonal moments means I have confidence in my creative legacy. As a teaching artist that is as fundamental as breathing in and out. I want my students to notice, connect, shift and create inspired by the seasonal changes. I want them to understand the sense of growing and the sense of returning. So, I am back onto my string of moments and as I finish this piece I wee Robin has landed on the fence post I can from the window. Is he looking at me or am I looking at him? I would love to know the answer to that. I will keep looking and see who blinks first.

Until next time

Fiona xx