Parenting from the Heart...

Last week on instagram, you may recall I wrote a raw & honest post about my experience of becoming a mother. It stirred up so much conversation about our individual experiences of parenting and the impact it has made on us, the many incredible comments were messages straight to my heart...

...click here to read the full post and beautiful comments. 

My friend Shona who has spent over 20 years as a youth worker & is a mum to two wonderful young men, was moved to action by the post (her inner fire was ignited!) and asked me if I’d consider inviting you to an evening discussion/workshop that her & I would co-host together. One of the things that struck me, after a number of conversations between us this past week while sharing our ideas and intentions for such an event, was when Shona told me this:

“My parents were the only people I ever heard say that they loved teenagers. They looked forward to us being teenagers. I had never heard that before from anyone! Most parents lamented the coming of the teenage years, feeling an ever-growing dread at the thought of what was to come and worse openly communicating that in front of their children."

Absolutely! I thought, I know my parents were those that probably dreaded it and certainly didn't talk about it afterwards with joy & lightness! And I know many of my friends today look at their teenage years as though they were horrible to their parents, and so dread their own children becoming teenagers. Shona continued...

"The sense of acceptance that I felt when I heard my parents say they loved teenagers was very powerful. It took away the power of the teenage rebellion. I’m not saying that it was all unicorns and rainbows but it was as smooth a transition for everyone in the family as any I had ever seen. And now having raised my own two teenage boys, I see, from first hand experience, the wisdom of their words.”

After I heard her say that, I was IN! And now we are super excited to let you know the details. It will be a casual & intimate evening 7:30-9:30pm on Tuesday March 20 at Shona’s beautiful home here in Rozelle, Sydney, where we will discuss a number of parenting topics close to our hearts, and problem solve with Shona’s guidance. This event is for parents of small children to teenagers. I’ll be the voice of our emotions (you know it!), and Shona will share the tools we can use to work through our challenges. You’ll leave feeling inspired & empowered as both a parent and person. 

Parenting from the Heart: A Path of fun, growth and LOVE...

All the info is up on my website now, here is the link.  There will be champagne and beautiful French cheeses of course (no event I host is complete without them!) It’s limited numbers as we want to keep the event intimate so if this is something you’d love to come along to, place your booking and we will email you with more details! I hope you can come along, it’s going to be a wonderful and life-enriching evening. Xx

We are human beams...

So here's the thing. 

Over the last seven months, I've been disassembling personal obstacles like there is no tomorrow.  So much has come to the surface for me over this time, huge emotional hurdles that I had NO idea were there. In this time I've learnt things about myself, things that I thought I'd let go of long long ago but instead they'd been very well hidden and remained embedded within.  Turns out I'd built incredibly elaborate cave-like structures to keep them out of everyday sight. Caves that, over time, became well obscured by thick tangled vines.  As I was contentedly walking along my jungle path, I began to notice these thick vines that seemed to grow more dense as I wandered on.  I didn't order this! I said to my heart. I cut them back but they grew thicker the more I walked on. Heart, I called out, WT-EFF,  this isn't right! Is this my path? It must be someone else's. What is this bullshit, am I lost? I don't want to be here anymore! 

Me, climbing a ginormous rock on the edge of the Hawkesbury River, photo by Elemental Explorer & creative collaborator Midnight Blue, January 2018. 

The more I stalked on, pushing through and slashing through the vines, the more tired I became. Everything in my life felt like it was falling apart. I felt overwhelmed, I couldn't breathe. My inner warrior was losing all its strength. 

Finally with shoulders slumped, I dropped down, feeling utterly defeated.

What's the difference between defeat and surrender? I wondered. What's the difference between surrender and acceptance? I pondered. I had no energy left to do anything but sit and look around. 

 And that's when I noticed the caves. 

They were beautiful spaces - but of course, I'd make them so! Which made me laugh at myself. Because now I've learnt creating such visual wonder can be a great way of masking one's truth.

As I regained my energy bit by bit, one by one I entered each cave. I looked at what I'd kept hidden all these years. It's unbelievable fascinating, to say the very least. And I feel ready to share my findings. 

I know many of us are in this collectively - we may not share the same history or experiences, but we share a heart journey, and what I feel and am able to express is a light beam you can count on to help see your way ahead. 

I'm going to share my findings in lots of different ways in coming days and months - in my new work, in journal posts here, on instagram and in instagram stories (yes, I've broken through my mental block on talking to camera and I'M DOIN' IT! I may be a quiet voice among the booming ones but I'm not going to let that stop me from using what I have). 

And I've been quietly working on my website this year - it's always been such a strong expression of my creativity over the years and it's exciting to be able to direct these new findings into my offerings already. 

I'm super excited to let you know I have re-structured my consultation and mentoring packages so there are options for everyone. I don't want anyone to miss out on the opportunity to follow their heart, it's the core of everything. It's our magic and when we let it out, we become human beams. 

In other news, I'll be announcing two awesome collaborations! Like a child, I am jumping up and down with joy and anticipation, I want to burst out with all of it now. 

Another change to my online presence is the newsletter - I'm ditching it, it was just not the right medium for me so instead, I'll be writing here in my journal, and those of you signed up via email will receive this straight to your inbox. It will mean you will hear from me more openly, with no newsletter marketing & salesy prompting. I'll just blab it all out here and you can wander through my website at your own heart's desire. There's lots to peruse now, like my old (blog)house (remember that?!!)... except now, it's a boat. And I'm ready to drop anchor.

photo by Elemental Explorer & creative collaborator Midnight Blue, January 2018. 

With so much love, 

Pia xx

We are all made of stardust...

Stardust print installation, currently in my studio

Having a studio has given me the space- physically and mentally - to embark on something I've been holding back from doing for, well, since I completed my arts degree at Uni some 19 years ago! While I was at COFA, I spent many hours in the dark room printing my photographs. I loved it. Every step of the process (minus the intensity of the chemicals) was a joy for me, I absolutely loved the alchemy of it. And to see the finished print was always exciting, it fuelled my creative fire.  Throughout my last two years of high school and into my Uni days, in those 5 years I spent most of my free time between classes in either the dark room or the library.

But since the onset of digital photography - which I have fully embraced in the most analogue way possible!  - I lost something of my work that I hadn't realised until now.  That is, the beauty and wonder of experiencing my photography in full colour and off the screen...

Stardust photographic print, limited edition, 11 x 14 inches

While visiting the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane a few weekends ago, I came across a room that reignited that lost part of me. It was filled with Australian artists I had studied all those years ago, intently, in books and galleries. As I roamed the room, little sparks lit in me with each work. I moved from Arthur Boyd, to Sydney Long, Rosalie Gasgoigne, and John Olsen. Every one of them had been an influence and inspiration in my years of intense study and making. Then I saw a piece that made my heart skip a beat, and took me to a long lost memory. It was a photograph called groundspeed (rose petal) by renown contemporary Australian photographer Rosemary Laing. In that moment of staring into her carpeted forest, I remembered how huge a role she played in my photography. She was one of my teachers while at the College of Fine Arts, and taught me everything I know about photography, both digital and analogue. And she was one of the best teachers I ever had. I remember how much she'd engage with each of us while we learnt the ropes of Photoshop. She was patient, kind, passionate and enthusiastic. She also gave me my best marks, which compelled me to learn more about my style, my motivation, my goals. While I looked at groundspeed (rose petal) and got lost in those memories, I felt a wave of gratitude and realised how lucky I was to have such a great teacher.

It also cemented in me how powerful it is to put your work out there, to move through those emotional blocks that stop so many of us from creating what we know we are meant to, and how important it is to have those influences in our lives - and why I love being able to be that person, that mentor, to artists around the world now. By making our work, by supporting each other and investing in each other's work, it's how we will thrive.

So it's with absolute delight that, having found the best pro printing lab in the city, I offer one of my most popular photographs Stardust as the first photograph released as a limited edition print on archival rag paper. This photograph is featured in my Festive ebook . As with all my books, I love creating visual stories throughout to capture your imagination and connect with your heart.  This photograph was created inspired by my work in redefining this intense time of year, by exploring the alchemy in each of us: The wonder that we are all made from stardust...

"Every element of the universe is made from stars, including us. As beings, each element within us was birthed in stars, the very stars that twinkle above us in the night sky and around the Earth. As humans both ancient and existing, we have held an everlasting fascination for stars, and knowing that we are made from stardust only enriches the allure and magic of the exploration of those tiny intergalactic sparkles that light up the deep indigo sky we look to each evening before we sleep."
Excerpt from The Everyday Alchemy eBook, Festive Edition. 

Each Stardust print is hand numbered, dated and signed by me. There are two sizes available, worldwide shipping is available (with free worldwide shipping for the next two weeks  - promo code in the info) all the details are available here.  When I say limited edition I mean LIMITED EDITION. Only a very small number will be printed. 

Thank you to everyone in my life who has encouraged me to print my work over the years. I finally got there! It took a while but the wait, I hope, will have been worth it. 

Vivent les artistes. 

xx

Laly sings Liferaft, written by Sydnee Carter...

The other day on instagram I posted a snippet of the lullaby Laly sung to me the other night. I asked her if I could record it on my phone to share with you and she said yes. So I took a video of it in the dark, and Romain extracted the sound so I could share it with you here. 

This is a song I've been singing to her for the past few months. Every year or so I learn a few new songs to sing to her at night. I rarely sing traditional lullabies, instead I've chosen songs that I absolutely love - songs that have beautiful messages she can carry with her throughout her life. When I was pregnant with her 6 years ago, I learnt the words to these songs and sung them to her when I was relaxing in the bath, the heaviness of my body relieved in the gentle water; and kept singing them to her at night all these years. At bedtime, she chooses one or two songs for me to sing, but lately she's been wanting to sing them herself. 

The song list that has remained  strong for the past 5 years has been as follows...

Birds by Emiliana Torrini
Sunny Road by Emiliana Torrini
The Sweetest Gift by Sade (which we call "The Moon Song")
Dreaming My Dreams by The Cranberries (which we call "The Dream Song")
Angel Standing By by Jewel (which we call "The Angel Song")

And in between those I've made up a few of my own that she chooses ("Silver Star", for example, and a song called "Slaapa Slu" which my Mum used to sing), as well as some French ones (including "Dodo, l'enfant Do"). 

This one is a new one we've added called Liferaft, by young Australian singer & songwriter Sydnee Carter. I hope you enjoy Laly's version (lyrics below)...

Pick me up,
hold me in.
I am broken,
I'm nothing.
I am weak,
not strong like you
still need your hand
to make it through.
Oh darling, can't you see?
You're the lock
and I'm the key
and in the dark
when I am blind
you'ld be the like {we sing: You'll be the light}
I will find. 
And for you I would be
the life raft in the sea.
And for you i would be
the life raft in the sea.

Pick you up,
hold you in.
If you're broken,
let i begin. {we sing: Then I'll begin)
You're not weak,
you are strong.
Just take my hand,
and hear my song
you'ld be the like {we sing: You'll be the light}
I will find. 
And for you I would be
the life raft in the sea.
And for you i would be
the life raft in the sea.

xx

PS and here is Sydney Carter singing it herself, so beautiful.