Bossa nova

Just when you thought you might get a blog post that didn't reference Glastonbury, I sneak one in under a Latin American radar!

You see, the thing is, I'm doing another of these round robin journals and am working on Sue Richardson's bossa-nova-themed book. Sue is a jazz musician which I find terribly exciting and exotic. In fact, I was so inspired that I ended up buying a whole new album of jaunty tunes - but more on that in a moment. Let's first drift through the mists to the picture above....

Do you wonder sometimes how the universe conspires to set things in perfect alignment for you. I return from my trip to the fabled land with the magic of the Lady of the Lake and lyrics of Roxy Music floating on repeat through my conscious, only to find a journal with a distinctly up-beat Latin American feel - not a match to my mood at all... or was it?

For listen carefully to the smooth tones of Mr Ferry singing Avalon and you'll find words of a very serendipitous nature!

So, with one double-page spread under my belt I could have had done with it and moved onto my next project - but no! For you see, I am something of a fan of the Latin beat - I think I may have been Brazilian in a former life. I wanted to paint those rhythms after all and tap my brushes like drumsticks and dance the paint across the page. I thought a new iTunes purchase might help, so added to my overflowing hard drive a little bossa nova compilation for the Muse to dance to - and samba she did, swinging those hips and flicking her tresses bedecked with feathers and sequins (she's such a party girl!)

It's the music I remember from my Dad's vinyl collection (Wes Montgomery, Charlie Byrd, Stan Getz) - the kind I would scoff at as a New Romantic teenager but which I have come to love. A bit like olives I think - a taste one acquires as one grows older and we stop consuming the type of sugary substances that dull our taste buds.

So, tomorrow this journal goes in the post and I await the next.

\|I'm also posting Gemma's 'purple' journal - but that's a whole other blog post....

Until then...

The Mists of Avalon

 

 

I took myself off on a weekend of adventure to the fabled land - Avalon - hiding in the mists just outside of modern-day Glastonbury.

Four days of magic and mystery with the energy of this special place mixing with the wild souls of the women gathered to make art and find their inner Goddess.

My night dreams conspired to wake me up before the lark and nudged me to view the world outside my window. Where I was expecting blue skies was just a veil of mist stretching as far as the eye could see. Would Avalon be the other side? It was too good an opportunity to miss. I set out on a dawn pilgrimage to the Tor.

Silence save for the birds and livestock calling for their breakfast.

Long skirts brushed through the wet grasses as I disturbed the fairies from playing their harps.

Rabbits hid among the grasses as the Tor and Tower remained as illusive too...

I knew it must be up there somewhere...

And the voices whispered the stories ...

Of love and betrayal ...

Until the guardians of the sacred place bid me back beyond the veil to paint my own Goddess...

 

More on the magical Call of the Wild Soul Art Retreat later this week.