renewal

Somehow, in June it feels like a new year.

Is it the solstice? A new journey staring around the sun? Direction: cooler.

Is it somehow a new energy shift – new directions, new projects on the horizon that have come up in the last week or so. New realities. New realisations. New reality check.

Is it anticipation – that intangible feeling before literal new horizons, on the cusp of departure, the excitement/apprehension/anxiety/anticipation of new places, new people, new encounters, challenges, pleasures.

Whatever it is, there is something in the air and it’s not just the mosquitoes. Do you feel it?

This year in particular, maybe because I am more cognizant of it or have been paying closer attention, but instead of being just sapped by the summer, I am somehow feeling energized. Nothing short of a miracle.

All this to say… It feels like a time of renewal.

a new journey

I am about to embark with my family on a trip to the hills and a trip to the sea – just a couple of days at each place, but I am almost salivating with the newness, the wave of renewal that I can feel building that is about to break over me.

I am so looking forward to sharing this with you as well. I’ll be posting some of the new things I will be seeing on my social media. I might even throw in a bonus live-on-site sketching video from the hills of Umbria – so keep an eye out for an email letting you know when I’m going live.

place

I’ve touched on the idea of place as an integral part of my design practice in a previous journal entry. In that case I was discussing light, weather, season, resources. In this case I think place has a different role to play – it is about new sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches. It’s a full sensory immersion that really shakes up how you see not only yourself, but the objects and spaces around you. Not only while you are in/at the new place but also on your return to origin/home/the regular.

You appreciate or notice or reassess things in a new way. With fresh eyes. With different eyes. With renewed vision.

travel

I also talked about how travel plays a role in design as well in a journal post about harnessing summertime creativity. The act of moving, of movement. Being in motion. It sets a whole lot of things in motion. New ideas, new inspiration, new input. Re-new.

sketching

While I’m away, I will be sketching. I have my trusty favourites with me (some more on those here). And I’ll be taking photos. I’ve already set aside time on my calendar when we come back to review my new inputs – digital and analogue.

review

This review step is so important and so often overlooked. I talked about this when I was looking at how I process my digital inspiration – the mountain of photos we take. Who knows, there might even be some new visual inventory posts that come about as a result of this trip and the subsequent review…

(By the way… Don’t let that word ‘review’ put you off – this isn’t an exam, or a formal thing. It’s just you looking at you – self-reflection, a process of understanding yourself, your influences, your spark, your creativity.)

Renewal – the act of – a truly infinite resource for designers, artists, quilt makers, creative souls.

How do you renew?