Harp, Hazelnuts, and 18th Century pockets.
Good day readers! I am sitting here on my back porch watching the local birdies enjoy the new food in my feeder. I have been nurturing my little garden through what has been a super hot summer here in the PNW. I am not very productive when it is hot. Enjoying the lazy days before the symphony season, school year start up. I work with three different orchestras and I have been planning from the start how to balance all of the dates and repertoire. I am lucky this year to know when I am playing and what I am playing well in advance. It helps. I am excited to be back in the stage and live with audiences. I do dearly hope that wthings are not yearned by a resurgence of COVID-19
concerns.
I have been doing a great deal of journaling and sorting of myself during this insular time. I have had time to enjoy getting to learn new skills and explore new interests. I have become quite interested in creating historical clothes and sewing my own clothes in general. I have a great many skills to master but the process brings me great joy and satisfaction. I just finished my first historical project, an 18th century style pocket.
It is all hand stitched out of stuff I had in my stash. None of The fabrics are historically accurate but I do not care. It is the inspiration point that excites me. I also love the little steampunk like gears that look like flowers that is printed on this fabric. Gives the whole pocket a time traveler vibe, which is what I was going for. I will use it to tote my cell phone when I need a pocket.
I have been spending more time with YouTube and have started a couple of series of videos that I think are fun and or informative. First is my This is the Harp series of technical exercises
Next is my Flat Rabbit series featuring my poetry and compositions from my collection Flat Rabbit Songs. I have done one of these so far. I am plotting the next one.
Other than these, I am also working on a Practice with me series as well as some performances for some sweet little pieces by Alphonse Hasselmans, who I believe needs more love as a composer. He uses pretty melodies and always manages to give the harp such a nice lush sound with his writing. He also wrote music that is not so insanely challenging that only a few can play it. I have been enjoying working on his music a great deal and plan on studying more after I get these on video.
I have been exploring the world of photography and I have been creating a series of photos of anything relating to the hazelnut in my backyard. The squirrels and birds leave artful arrangements and I photograph them. I am planning a book as a culmination of the series. You can find the photos on my Instagram. Here are a few as well.
