Stars by Laly Bigeard...

Eight moons ago, on a crisp winter evening, we made a little fire in our backyard to sit with the full moon. We ate our dinner around the fire and then made s'mores - one of Laly's favourite treats. She wrote love letters to the moon on the concrete patio with some of the fallen charcoal. While we were sitting around the fire, she began humming her song Stars, to the moon. We hadn't yet booked a time to record it in the studio but it was essentially ready for the big wide world.

While she was humming the song and dancing around the fire with her charcoal stick, inspiration came to me for her music video. I said, "Let's get some sparklers and you can dance in the moonlight while singing your song, I think this could be the video!" With a beaming smile she ran and got some sparklers, put on her dark blue jumpsuit and off we went into the night. Would we step on something slimy? Possibly, but she did not care! I filmed her with my phone while she danced to the song in her head, the vision of the music video coming to me as I filmed. I had Coldplay's Yellow in my mind as inspiration - remember the one continuous shot of Chris Martin walking in the rain on the beach as dawn broke?

We did 4 takes, and that was that! I wanted it to be as organic and playful as possible, just like her song. I had no idea if it would work but the moment was captured, and that's all that mattered for me at that moment. We giggled and laughed and it was the most wonderful memory-making time together, mother and daughter. I told her it might not be great, and it's on the phone so the quality isn't the best but she didn't care, she felt the buzz of it and knew it would become whatever it would become.

After we recorded the song in the recording studio in August, I started thinking again about how I could turn that footage into a music video. I wasn't confident about my editing skills at first - it's been over 20 years since I sat at a film editing suite at university, and technology has advanced so much since then. I decided to ask around for a video editor, and I did end up paying someone to put it together for me but I wasn't quite happy with the end result because I realised I already had a strong vision for it and needed to create it myself. So this past month while I had the time, I decided to give it a try myself. It was fun to learn a new software, expanding my photography skills into the moving world. And I am really happy with the result, it's the closest to what I envisioned that beautiful night, and even with the limited quality of the phone, not to mention it being shot at night, with no other equipment, I am really pleased with it.

It is now on you tube! I have a separate channel for Laly but it's on my account so she can't access it herself, and comments have to be modified by me before they are public so that she's as protected as possible but still able to share her creativity with the world.

I really hope you like it too, feel free to share it with your friends and family and online if you feel moved to. She's already working on her next song and it's a heart melter.

With love,

Pia xx

Festive Season Reimagined - digital book flash sale

So much to share from this year and so many intentions to share it here! But here we are in December of 2022 already.

For now, I want to let you know that I’m having a flash sale on the digital version of Festive Season Reimagined as it’s the only book I have available for you all at this time of year!

And I love this book and everything it stands for, and if you are feeling the calling to add some wonder and depth to your end of year, this is the book for you. Click on the cover image below to order your copy now.

I have one more incredible something to share with you before the end of the year! Stay tuned. X

The Great Overwhelm...

I’m calling this time The Overwhelm. But since everything is Great these days, it’s The Great Overwhelm. Are you feeling it? I’ve written a little about it on my Patreon page, The Everyday Alchemists, here is an except from the latest post…

Sunday
July 10, 2022

I feel like this period of time should be called The Great Overwhelm…

One of the collective feelings I picked up on the most while being back in Sydney was overwhelm.  I felt it before the pandemic, particularly in the area we were living in, in the Inner West, and then after the first lock down was lifted, the overwhelm was heightened. I still feel it in myself too but when I met with others while in Sydney who described their situations, I could feel the intensity of it. I don’t feel that intensity in me but I think it’s only because I have been able to keep it in check  - as soon as things get overwhelming – like this year during the time of the floods, and when Romain was so sick and needed emergency surgery, I have learnt - and am able to  - drop everything that creates overwhelm during these times. For everyone it’s different. In our case, not having the capacity to outsource support with Laly means I don’t have family to call on or a babysitter when times get tough, but I can drop other things to ensure I have the energy to attend to her and our needs. Socialising in large groups for example, is something that adds to overwhelm for me at the moment, so I often say no, and I’ve been able (and lucky enough) to not take on too much work since 2020, I only do what I can manage.  I learnt all this from the burn out I had after self-publishing Little Treasures: Made by Hand.

Part of my personal overwhelm – or what I call being ‘at capacity’ – is that it seems like I have less and less time to do things other than the everyday necessities – washing  the clothes, feeding the family, grocery shopping, cleaning the house, feeding and caring for the bunny, communicating and organising tradespeople and the landlord about house repairs from the storm damage, sorting, being emotionally present, and going for walks for exercise. And that’s just a sampling of what’s needed to be done in my every day.  Self-help gurus and life coaches will tell us that in this scenario, I’m not prioritising my time ‘properly’, that I need to set myself/simplify my goal (ie more exercise, more writing, more work time, etc) and focus on this, put it at the top of the list and let the other chips fall as they may. I’ve tried this, many times, in many eras of my life, and I can say with conviction that it’s bullshit. It’s one of those capitalist/colonialist/patriarchal idealisms that doesn’t work at all in practice, unless you’re a white privileged man. I know there are plenty of female life coaches and self help gurus around at the moment who sell this idea too, but they’re only keeping up the same illusion. They do not reveal the amount of support they have around them in order to achieve their work goals. And it is simply not sustainable (it doesn’t last).

Since the pandemic first began, I have felt at capacity. And it’s not easing. I know I’m not alone. Even being able to write and publish a post here on Patreon feels epic for me these days – I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve started posts over the past 2 months and have not been able to finish them, even though I’ve made time to come back to them day after day. Today, I am determined. I’ve been here writing this for 3 hours now, and I’m managing this chunk of time because everyone is exhausted from our trip and happy to do their own things in quiet peace. Although it’s 12:30pm, I’ll need to make lunch for everyone soon, so my time is running out.

Why is it like this? Are you feeling this too or are you feeling like you have time on your hands? I’d really love to know. Is everyone overworked – whether it’s an outside job or the job of managing a household, or both  - is this a collective experience or is it because I’m a mum to a ten year old, or is it health related? I’d love to learn about your life right now.

………………………………..

To read more, and about an idea I’m running by everyone in the collective that might help with the overwhelm, you can join the collective, The Everyday Alchemists.

Pia xx

PS Also, I made a new playlist the other day - I do love this new way of creating mixed tapes for like-hearted souls around the world! This one will be added to along the way, I hope you enjoy it. X

{new work} VISUAL ODE TO THE CIRCLE...

I do not know how this photographic feature slipped by without being shared with you (such is life over the past 2 years!) - it was featured in issue two for 2021 of Happinez. It is my favourite of all time & marks a very important change in my life - it is the first shoot in my new hometown, a ten year long goal actualised. To receive this brief from Happinez in the first month of moving up to the Northern Rivers was wonderful and felt serendipitous.

The issue is all about silence - harnessing the power of silence and stillness, listening deeply, listening within. And for this I was asked to focus on the circle, being the symbol of silence and stillness. The circle is also the hallmark of Happinez. There is always a circle on each cover and this story honours the circle as the center of silence. As Albertine wrote to me in our briefing, “Inside the circle it is quiet. The more you go to the middle, the more quiet it is. The circle is a symbol for eternity, no beginning and no end. A perfect nothing.”

I had so much artistic freedom with this shoot, playing with the elements of earth, fire, air and water and finding ways to express the circle & stillness. I wanted each photograph to be a work of art.

The first image above was harnessing the stillness in sound - using the Tibetan singing bowl as my inspiration. I just loved how it played off the texture of the rich soil and beach grasses.

The moon and planets were my inspiration for the second image above. The well-worn studio floor was my backdrop, with it’s beautiful paint tin rust stains. The plate and bowl are by Made of Australia from Shack Palace, and the Black Clay ball soap is from my favourite soap makers in the world, Est Australia - I have been buying their soaps and carrying them with me around the world for 20 years! I stocked their incredible soaps in my homeware store all those years ago, and have never stopped ordering from them as a customer since.

For this photograph I place a gorgeous handmade cast iron plate in the centre with seaweed from my local beach. I sprinkled sand on the dark surface along with dried flowers from my aged flower collection and inside the jar is gold leaf paint, sitting on the surface of the water. There are layers to this work and when you look closely you may see them.

Element: Water. I wanted to make a dream-like rock pool. I was inspired by my visit to Shelly beach which has so many beautiful rock pools, so I wanted to create something like this - the idea of looking into this water hole and wanted to dive into it. Laly and I call it the fairy pool. And this special creation became our outdoor table centrepiece for the following months, it was beautiful to look at and play with, contemplating which creatures - both earthly and enchanted - came to visit the fairy pool during the night hours.

Again I photographed this on my concrete studio floor, adding sand from our beach, and also some seaweed. The bowl I found a few years ago - someone had discarded it on the side of the road. So many of the most wonderful pieces in my home have come from the side of the road. The green colour of this bowl is gorgeous, I love it. Inside the bowl are barnacles, shells, dried flowers and moss. Floating on top of the water are a couple of dandelion heads - I love the symbol/message of the dandelion and also it’s circular/round form.

Element: Earth. This vine of dried grass was growing inside my studio, near the door. I absolutely loved the idea of shaping it into a circle form. I wanted an earth element but something surprising - I didn’t want to make a wreath or mandala which felt a bit obvious, and I love how this turned out - so simple but it took me a long time to try to get it right. The vase is handmade, it was given to me some years ago by my friend Zoë.

Element: Fire. This photograph for me weaves together my surroundings and heart space. I wrote to Albertine in my description for the photograph, “The clay dishes are very special - they were made by my friend, local artist Natalie Wilkin. Nat is one of the main reasons I moved up here, she is my closest friend, and she is incredibly talented. She makes a range of elemental wares, and this is part of her new collection. Here is her website. Some of the clay for these pieces was sourced directly from her home, a sacred piece of land in Moorang-Moobar Country.”

I hope you enjoy these special photographs and the creation stories behind each of them.

With love,

Pia x