Welcoming in a new season

My tips for starting new seasonal creative journeys.

Welcoming in a new season makes me a bit giddy, if I am honest. I always feel very grateful to live in a part of the world that has four seasons. The newness is edged with familiarity and, with that, comes comfort and a sense of belonging. I like to think that we ‘belong’ to the natural world rather than the natural world belongs to us. So, I am happy to learn from the seasonal shifts and I try hard to reflect that in my creative world.

Autumn is a time to gather along with other species, I suspect. We have a line of Hazel trees so we have squirrels and on our island we only have red squirrels. They are so fast at this time of year and so incredibly busy. We also have a resident hedgehog and, although not so fast, just as charming. As summer turned to autumn I saw the largest dragonfly of my life. The wing span must have been 6 inches and it was utterely spellbinding. Then, today, I saw two ladybirds. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. Once a common sight in our gardens, the native species are in serious danger of extinction so to see two made me weep with happiness.

In my Patreon we have been doing our bit to prepare. Our community is committed to seasonal creativity and September is the beginning of a new year together. So, we are busy planning what we might get up to this autumn and making our own bespoke planners. Each of us will make a planner that helps us stay on track and not keep wandering off down new creative pathways and get overwhelmed.

We began by making a small Tussie Mussie of gatherings from our gardens. We used the colours and shapes to paint the background of our planner. We then decorated some tags to hold all our ideas on. Our Tussie Mussies are all drying now and they will allow us to ‘find’ some more creative ideas as the new season unfolds. Starting simply is always my top piece of advice. We have a tendancy to over-complicate our creative worlds so a small gathering from the garden gives us something simple to start from. I am so excited to see where my patrons go with this.

Keeping a journal would be another top tip. There are lots of ways of doing this and in our wee community we have spent the last year exploring art journals. I keep a written journal to capture my seasonal inspiration but in our new year we are moving to keeping a nature journal. For me, nature journaling is a very specific genre and they are informed by a growing knowledge and understanding of the nature world. Whatever journal you keep make it a regular thing.

“One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, ‘What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?”
― Rachel Carson

I love that quote and keep the sentiment behind it close to me. A love of nature and seasonality is a love of life. It is a beautiful love affair capable of lasting a life time. Journaling helps us to see, I think.

As autumn beds in I am aware of how quickly it passes and I don’t want to miss a second of it. Lighting candles has always fed my creativity and never more so than in autumn as the days shorten.

Candles give my mind space to breathe and for creative thoughts to move around just long enough to take shape. It is always just a lovely way to welcome the shorter days. Last, but by no means least, is the perennial nature table. Displaying your natural finds brings some of the outside world in and places you within the season.

All these wee bits and pieces of behaviour really make a difference to how well your creativity is fed by the seasons. Enjoy your new season. Until next time. x