From connection to land to inspiration to create - How our prints begin with hands, feet and hearts on the earth

"One thing I've learned in the woods is that there is no such thing as random.  Everything is steeped in meaning, coloured by relationships, one thing with another."

- Robyn Wall Kimmerer 

The sun is just about to come up.

I am camping deep in a special east Australian coastal forest. I can hear the first bird song, the ocean waves in the distance and the gentle rustle of the breeze in the leaves of the giant eucalypt trees around me.

  I get dressed and climb out of my tent, intent on walking to the best possible spot in the dunes to experience the sun coming up.

I boil some water on the still burning coals in the fire pit, make a quick cuppa and go to head off in the direction of the beach, but something turns my attention toward the track heading in another direction up the creek and into the scribbly gum forest.

It’s springtime and its the season of one of my most favourite wildflowers and I know there is a spot up that path where I can probably see the sun rise while sitting completely surrounded by them - magical flannel flowers.

I wonder what they will look like with early morning dew glistening on their soft petals, what they will smell like, how they will glow with the first rays of sunlight illuminating their grey green foliage.

I wonder what pollinators are already awake and at work, I wonder what being there in that moment will FEEL like…

 There is so much in these moments for me. It’s not like I seek them out in order to make art, they just stay with me and inspire art to come out.

 Such a simple floral motif, a small celebration of an incredibly powerful plant, created in a moment of remembering…

If we strip back the intense productivity narrative that engulfs and drives our culture and society and value these simple moments of beauty for what they are :- Deeply connecting, calming and innately human, I believe we can come slowly back home to ourselves and to the land that holds and nourishes us.

Back to our knowing, our interconnection, our relationships to the world outside of ourselves and, even if just for a moment, leave behind the stress, the survival instinct and the chaos of it all….

Just for a moment. A beautiful special moment. And then this moment ripples out into the other moments of our lives, transforming our experience.

 This was the energy behind choosing to turn these prints of mine into nurturing wearable artworks.

Maybe, if we are connected to the imagery in our own ways, even subconsciously, we can access these reminders while we navigate the wildness of our human lives.

Wrapped in the comfort of the whispers of the wild and the lush fabrics that hold them. Adornment with deeper meaning. 

'That September pairing of purple and gold is lived reciprocity; its wisdom is that the beauty of one is illuminated by the radiance of the other. Science and art, matter and spirit, indigenous knowledge and Western science - can they be goldenrod and asters for each other? When I am in their presence, their beauty asks me for reciprocity, to be the complementary color, to make something beautiful in response.'

- Robin Wall Kimmerer

As I continue to make new prints, I will keep telling you all these stories.

Reminding you to keep connected to your own versions of these moments.

However they look for you in your own unique life and experience.

With each act of presence we reclaim ourselves and therefore, each other.

We remember that we are part of the great web and for me this is a place where I find solace simultaneously in both the simplicity and the complexity of it all and this stills my mind, nurtures my soul AND inspires me to create.

Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world, receiving the gifts with open eyes and open heart.  

- Robin Wall Kimmerer

How about you? In what moments do you find your calm? Your inspiration? Do you feel connected? Are you tired from the relentless pursuit of doing?

Lets start a conversation! I’d love to hear your stories below xx

Recommended reading - Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer