Well, to be honest, I’ve stopped, for the time being. I’m still re-covering and letting time wash over me. This throws me into occasional panic, though. When we stop ‘doing’ it can unsettle our sense of ‘worth’.

So how to allow rest to restore us?

I’m grateful for the two silver birches that we planted 15 years ago, and that now reach up into the heights with elegant and delicate branches. These trees are my guides to staying in the moment. Each moment fresh and new, with the breeze blowing through.

Is there somewhere you can connect with the movement and flow of nature? I’d love to know about your own place for succour… by a tree, or open water, a beautiful bench? Do leave a comment and let me know….

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This month’s MY WILD FAMILY

I’ve just come across a very playful puppy part of me I’ve called Poppy. She has emerged after a long time investigating a time in my life that was full of grief, in my late-30s, and it was quite a surprise when Poppy rocked up…! She’s very keen to play, and also needs lots of sleeps.

Is there a baby animal you identify with? Can you bring a bit of that innocent energy into your day? I’ve enjoyed waggling my feet in the air (when no one else is around) and going for adventures around bits of the local wood I don’t usually explore, tuning into puppy energy. It’s fun! Sniffing things more….!

Can you connect with pure baby energy?

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This month’s creative insights

I’m still enjoying my summer break so will be revealing more to you in September… things involving William the Conqueror and medieval explorers, also I’ll be starting to create something very sensory with Dutch musicians and live electronics, composing a new water-inspired piano solo, and I’ll be part of a dance/voice installation involving my slightly adjusted wedding dress…

In the meantime, I’m savouring this lucky happenstance that I can rest and bring energy levels back up to take all this on, so I’ve decided not to publish an August Substack this year.

Thank you so much for reading this (non-ai) offering!

If you’d like to join my wonderful band of paid subscribers you will be helping support my work in the future to share even more generously! Thank you!

Having paid subscribers not only helps me financially to do the things I need to do, it also feels like a validation of my work, that this is ‘worth’ something….

Subscribe now

Of course I offer this freely, and very happy to do so for those that need it!

PS I am still fundraising for the We Sing The River’s Voice project, so if you’d like to give a one-off donation to the JustGiving page here is the link - this will help cover the costs of bringing young people from Birmingham near the banks of the River Severn to celebrate the river at Bewdley.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

Self care

How do we manage as creative beings in a way that keeps our hearts singing and our flows flowing? Where there is a flow, we need an ebb. A balance.

Having just come to the end of a super-active 6 months (or is it more?) when the flow has been steady and strong, I am ready to stop, to breathe, to slow down, and to spend time being nourished by nature.

A friend recently asked,

“so what are you going to do to relax?”

What works for you? How do you find ways to let it…. all…. go……?

Let me know in the comments!

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My answer was,

“Nothing…!”

I have been enjoying just breathing, sitting, lying, walking. Being outside as much as possible. Savouring scents, looking out for butterflies, listening to the birds while they are still singing out the beginning of Summer.

This month’s MY WILD FAMILY

There is a strong part of me that loves to be busy, to be useful, to have a distinct purpose.

The bit that pushes forwards, relentlessly. It’s a very useful part sometimes.

But right now? I’ve sent them on holiday.

Now it’s just me, with time to be still and quiet… But this wasn’t so straightforward. I had to do a lot of self-calming and regulation to allow this part to quieten.

I had done a lot of scribbling on paper to release some of the ‘doing’ energy - if you look carefully, you can see through the scribbles on the other side of the sheet...

Then I started to draw and breathe, to slow things down.

To breathe a line, breathe out a line, drawing the line and the breath slowly.

This helped me a lot.

Then I added a new line that had a start and stop point, so there was a pause between each breath.

I’d love to know what calming strategies you have to help cool the busy mind?

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This month’s creative insights

After my much needed summer break I am looking forward to two very exciting new projects that will start in the Autumn.

But for now, time to rest up and enjoy the summer break

(yes, I know! Lucky me!)

Thank you so much for reading this offering!

If you’d like to join my wonderful band of paid subscribers you will be helping support my work in the future to share even more generously! Thank you!

(Having paid subscribers not only helps me financially to do the things I need to do, it also feels like a validation of my work, that this is ‘worth’ something…. )

Of course I offer this freely, and very happy to do so for those that need it!

I am fundraising for the We Sing The River’s Voice project, so if you’d like to give a one-off donation to the JustGiving page here is the link - this will help cover the costs of bringing young people from Birmingham near the banks of the River Severn to celebrate the river at Bewdley at the beginning of this month.

THANK YOU!

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What makes your heart sing? I get a huge burst of the good stuff when I spot something in Nature - and I was lucky enough to see these tiny beautiful emerald damselflies (I think - I haven’t had a chance to check what they are) dancing in a group of about 6 or 7 over the naturally salty waters of the River Salwarpe. The river looked healthy and we saw several fish of various sizes. A fisherman told us he had seen an eel that morning as well. All encouraging news, in these difficult times for our rivers…

What do you happen upon that lifts your heart? What makes you stop in your tracks and just wonder? Have you seen, heard or sensed something recently? I’d love to hear about it!

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This month’s MY WILD FAMILY

My Wild Family is my way of sharing some inner-child work I am engaged in for myself. IFS (Internal Family Systems) sets out ways in which we can visit the uncomfortable aspects of our memories, or pain, or anything that triggers us, in a way that encourages things to transform - in rather magical ways.

Recently I have unearthed two new ‘parts’ of me that were connected with ancient sad memories. One part, a miserable 12-year old, has transformed into a white-tailed eagle. These birds have recently been reintroduced into the UK, having been extinct here for many years. Here’s a lovely video that tells the birds’ story.

This morning another new part I have just been encountering for the first time has shape-shifted - from a very scary form that included a volcano erupting and a screaming skull - into a small, young but fearless dragon rider. I haven’t drawn this yet, but I’m looking forward to putting pencil to paper in the next few days! Maybe you can draw it for me?

I love exploring my imagination in this way, as a way to self-heal. I am lucky that I can do this own my own, using the books ‘No Bad Parts’ and ‘You Are The One You’ve Been Waiting For’ by Richard C. Schwartz as my guide. Although many people don’t relish the thought of delving back into their past, for me it has helped make sense of things. It gives me real agency.

Last week I was flipping through online stuff and was drawn to a beautiful tasselled orange throw. Later that day, I was looking through my note book and was really surprised to see this drawing of ‘The view from my cave’ with an orange rug with tassels at the threshold. This cave is part of my imaginary life. I started visiting it in my mind’s eye many decades ago, visiting the wise woman that lives there.

As my IFS explorations have deepened, I find myself going to this cave more regularly, to receive wise words, kind comfort or just a warm fire. Sometimes a ceremony, sometimes a place to rest. Once she refused to let me in! I had to sit outside with ashes in my hair.

What is the point of this, you may ask?

I suppose the reason I’m sharing it is that I find this imaginary life can offer a great deal. Our tendency to only pay attention to ‘reality’ is rather limiting, I think. Do you have your own imagined haven where you can rest and restore? What is it like there?

This month’s creative insights

‘We Sing the River’s Voice’ is my new vocal installation by the riverside for four very different groups of singers. We will be singing the river in just a few days at Bewdley, on the River Severn in Worcestershire. I love projects like this where I am able to bring together diverse groups from different traditions to create something unique in the landscape.

When I was offered the opportunity to create something by the CARP (Communities Against River Pollution) Bewdley River Festival organiser Dee Edwards, I was eager to do something. I have been gestating a river-based project for several years, and waiting for an opportunity to bring it into the world.

About two years ago I met with a whole team of people doing river testing along my local river the Teme. Each volunteer showed me their own stretch of river and talked to me about their concerns for it. I was struck by the high levels of anxiety they expressed, and knew I had to find a way to support positive action for river health.

These things don’t just happen, though. I had to wait for a suitable opening, and felt powerless to do anything until I met Dee. Now we are making it happen! We are bringing two groups of young people, one local group and one from Birmingham, to sing alongside a pop-up choir of enthusiastic singers from Bewdley, a group of vocal improvisers from Malvern and a performance poet and an opera singer.

The songs I’ve composed range from playful to wistful, from cheeky to demanding everyone’s attention. There are some familiar tunes as well as some new ones, with moments when the music will be freely improvised and created in the moment.

I’ve created a new character called ‘the Thalweg’. I discovered this word recently - it means the deepest part of the valley or the river bed, pronounced ‘tahl-vegg’. Opera singer Martin Robson will become the Thalweg and summon all the depth and mystery of the river, asking all present to ask their questions for the river and finally demanding proof that action will be taken to protect the river.

One aim of the project is for me to deepen my own understanding of the issues around river health and water pollution. Is A River Alive? is a wonderful book by Robert Macfarlane. It is a superb demonstration of a creative mind on a quest to seek out answers to big questions, and I am awestruck by his bravery and commitment.

I have absorbed a great deal of information about how we can protect our rivers - not just at a governmental and national level, but at a personal level. The songs are designed to give people ideas about what they can do as individuals to help. There is some more information and you can support the project here. Thank you!

Is there something you are passionate about and want others to know more about? Is there a creative way you can express this? Do you need to find some like-minded souls to help you on your own quest? Let me know your quest and how you’d like to make a difference by leaving a comment! Thank you and good luck with your own passion!

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Thank you so much for reading this offering!

If you’d like to join my wonderful band of paid subscribers you will be helping support my work in the future to share even more generously! Thank you!

(Having paid subscribers not only helps me financially to do the things I need to do, it also feels like a validation of my work, that this is ‘worth’ something…. )

Of course I offer this freely, and very happy to do so for those that need it!

I am fundraising for the current project, so if you’d like to give a one-off donation to the JustGiving page here is the link - THANK YOU!

Subscribe now

Why is it so hard to get out and connect? I don’t know - do you?

Whenever I take time to go outside to ‘be’ I feel nourished. Why don’t I do this more often?

I’m lucky to have a garden and lots of wild spaces near where I live. Where do you go for your Nature fix? This month I am going to get out more… what about you?

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This month’s 60 WILD SONGS

On a weekend away with a group of creative folks dedicated to wild voices we had the opportunity to go off in pairs to explore a wild garlic wood in deepest Herefordshire. My partner and I whispered to each other that we had never been allowed to be LOUD as kids. We laughed when we realised we were even whispering the loud sound we wanted to make.

I was never allowed to go ‘AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!’ (whispered).

When we realised - suddenly my partner started whooping and shouting with joy and I found myself matching the free liberation of her voice. Soon after we heard another pair whooping and screeching a similar joyous sound, like birds in the forest.

I told the story of my 60 Wild Songs project - where I set out every now and then into Nature to improvise something to the land, the water, the air. To my surprise, my partner said: Let’s do one now!

Let’s do one now!

I was a bit thrown at first. My first six ‘Wild Songs’ had been carefully planned… was I allowed to be spontaneous? Did my rules allow it?

I realised I’d created a whole structure of rules and was grateful to have that concept challenged! So, no photos, no film, just a memory of freely exploring with voices in amongst the trees and the birds.

It was magical.

This month’s MY WILD FAMILY

I’ve recently unearthed a part I have called Alba. Her name is inspired by the albatross - a bird that flies alone a long way from land for many years. It feels good that she now has a place to land and feels more accepted.

This month’s creative insights

Ah - Passia is done and thanks to everyone for your amazing support!

Next up is a very different (but equally vibrant!) project called

We Sing The River’s Voice

Inspired by the River Severn this semi-improvised vocal installation that moves along the river bank will bring together singers young and old from the town of Bewdley with different singing groups from Malvern and Birmingham alongside a fantastic team of artists: Performance Poet Sipho Eric Ndlovu, Vocal Improviser Ruana Xerri-West and Opera Singer Martin Robson.

More next month on how I am creating this project and the ways in which it is flowing and meandering to find its true form! It has a life of its own…..

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Thank you for reading this month’s offering and if you’d like to join my wonderful band of paid subscribers you will be helping support my work in the future to share generously! Thank you!

Having paid subscribers not only helps me financially to do the things I need to do, it also feels like a validation of my work, that this is ‘worth’ something….

Of course I offer this freely, and very happy to do so for those that need it!

Subscribe now

See if you can seek out something to nourish your creative side…

and let me know how you get on!

Is it time for you to be creative? to be wild? Do you make time for this? When will you have time….? Maybe the time is NOW!

I have realised that my relationship to time has shifted in the last few years. I now know that I have time to…connect, listen, watch

…what do you most want time to do?

If you had all the time in the world – what would be the wild and creative things you would like to experience? I’d love to hear about your thoughts in the comments…

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If you are doing these things already, fantastic!

Or are you like I used to be and say – I don’t have time to do that….

Well, it’s time for me to make a confession:

I used to regularly say to myself, and occasionally to others: TIME IS MY ENEMY.

I didn’t have enough time to…. do my work to my full satisfaction. I believed I didn’t have time for…. socialising, hobbies, reading, going outside. I certainly didn’t have time to…. look after my own health and wellbeing.

When – surprise surprise – I hit a point when suddenly I had a LOT of time (because I’d burnt out and made myself so ill I couldn’t walk) it was ____ (fill in the blank) for me to challenge some of these thoughts and beliefs. At that point I became a bit obsessed with time.

What is your relationship with time? Is it on your side?

I have now changed my mantra to something that supports my new super power to stretch time (sometimes)

Time is my FRIEND

This has been a game changer for me. I often use a timer to tackle tough things I don’t want to do (and what is actually only thirty minutes can feel like 3 hours….)

OK, here’s your Spring One Minute Starter

Spend one minute listening to spring bird song, be outside if you can.

Here’s a one minute video with some birds singing in my back garden on the 28th February, 2026. The birds’ songs come and go, start and stop. Some are near and some are far away. What is the bird’s relationship with time? How can we be more like the birds?

Do you feel yourself to be ‘time rich’ or ‘time poor’? How does that impact on your connection with Wild Art You? Are there micro-moments during your day when you can notice something magical, take a breath or draw inspiration?

I love the quote from Henry Ford

If you believe you can, or if you believe you can’t, you’re probably right.

What is your take on this - are you too busy to think? Or overwhelmed by too much time?

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This month’s 60 WILD SONGS

For the next song in my series of 60 Wild Songs* I have decided to return to the River Teme for Wild Song 7. The river is becoming more and more important to me as a place to recharge my energy. I am making more opportunities to go there and spend time by the river whenever I can.

* for more info on 60 Wild Songs look through my earlier posts on Substack…

I’ve decided to be brave and share one of my wild songs with you for the first time… This is Wild Song 5, created in June 2025.

Have you ever sung your own wild song? Let me know about it - or if there’s somewhere you would like to go to do this…?

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This month’s MY WILD FAMILY

I have been working with a younger part of me I have named Lily. Lily had to endure a lot of losses in her late twenties and she would be crying every day driving her car on the hour-long commute home from a job she hated.

I realised she was still stuck in that car and I needed to get her out…!

Lily was very isolated at that time, she was grieving and had had to move away from family and friends. She believed there was no one she could lean on or ask for support.

So now things have changed and she can be released from that sad time. Lily needs lots of reassurance and connection, both with other people and with nature.

My connection with Lily has made me feel a lot more stable and able to open up to others in a new way. This kind of inner work is based on Internal Family Systems

This month’s creative insights

PASSIA is my retelling of the Passion story through women’s voices. I have set the words of five female writers in this ground-breaking new cantata exploring the women’s experience of hope, love, passion and grief as they witness a violent death.

When and where can we hear Passia?

The first performances of Passia will take place soon, during Holy Week 2026:

• Monday 30th March 3pm Great Malvern Priory (world premiere)

• Tuesday 31st March 7.30pm Church of St Mary Magdalene, Oxford

• Thursday 2nd April, 1pm Christchurch Priory, Dorset

Tickets and full info are available here https://www.papagena.co.uk/concerts

Who is involved?

The five female vocalists of Papagena have been working on this groundbreaking piece with Liz since 2024 when the group commissioned the piece. At the time, we had no funding for the project - and the group receives no public funding. We felt passionate about the idea and have been workshopping ideas, exploring together and building a unique sound world that I have tailor-made for the group and each voice within it.

Performing alongside Papagena will be the National Children’s Choir of Great Britain. Also taking on the trebles choir role will be the University of Warwick Upper Voices and the Christchurch Priory choristers.

The young voices sing Four Angel Songs - strange, ethereal music that is full of bright light and flutters like angels’ wings, with words in ancient Byzantine ‘gobbledegook’, identified by scholars as ’the words of angels’.

What is Passia?

Passia is a 45 minute cantata for voices, hand chimes and drum. The five women arrive at the place of execution - hopeful, only to be devastated by what plays out in front of them. While they wait to see what happens, they tell of their own relationships with the man they love. The music moves from bright joy and sensuous love to darkest grief.

The musical landscape incorporates many different influences, from E European mourning songs and Palestinian traditional music to ancient Byzantine vocals woven through with Liz’s new music that explores the sonority, beauty and depth of women’s voices.

This radical new work will appeal to all faiths and none, focussing on the experiences of diverse women witnessing the violent death of someone they love. The action takes place at the foot of the cross and ends with Jesus’s dead body in the arms of his mother.

Passia’s relevance to today’s world is multifaceted, bringing women’s voices and experiences into the spotlight, allowing their voices to be heard.

If you are feeling extra generous you might consider a one-off donation to my project Passia with the sensational female vocal quintet Papagena - Thank you! The deadline for donations is Friday 6th March.

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Thank you for reading this month’s offering and if you’d like to join my valiant and wonderful band of paid subscribers you will be helping support my work in the future to share generously! Thank you!

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Do you have ways to nourish your wild spirit? I’d love to hear from you – if you are discovering something new, struggling to find your way, or if you’re reconnecting with your wild side in some way? Which animal, bird, mythical creature or phenomenon do you connect with? Let me know in the comments…

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Here’s Winter song I wrote inspired by wild creatures, birds, trees and landscapes from around Britain found during the wintertime. One day there will be a beautiful film to go with this track – any takers? I commissioned four artists to respond to the song and the words and was blown away by the results. You can read more about it and see the full artworks here

I love collaborating with other artists and would love to connect with film makers, choreographers, visual artists and sculptors to find ways to create new collaborations for 2026… Know anyone? Do get in touch!

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This month’s CREATIVE INVITATION

Learning to trust our creativity… As I get older I am noticing that I’m valuing my early attempts at being creative more and more. All the self-doubt, critique and endless analysing seems now…. I don’t know, a bit self-defeating.

Here’s a 1 minute creative starter: Get yourself into a quiet space and spend 1 minute imagining your most creative vision of something glorious, wild, ambitious, deep, dark, frivolous, whatever! Or just stop for one minute. See what comes to mind. If nothing comes, don’t worry. Just notice what does happen. Stay open over the next few days and trust that something might appear. You could take inspiration from a wild animal, bird, tree or landscape to help focus.

Here’s a one-minute video from Sunday 25^th January. I found when watching this landscape for 1 minute a few things happened. I became aware of my breathing, which had been a bit held in. I let it go. I started to relax, and savour the light, the colours, the sounds. The feel of the air.

I was struck by the slow steady movement of the cloudshapes and the fleeting birds flying across fast in the opposite direction.

Who knows where this might lead? A poem, a doodle? A commitment to get outside more? An opera? A giant installation? A tender touch, a kindly look?

Let me know how you get on!

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This month’s 60 WILD SONGS - what’s next?

My plan is to create 60 improvised songs outside in Nature and I’m hoping that my inbuilt fear of being seen and heard - (which I think is a cultural) will gradually weaken as I do more…. For regular subscribers you will know that I have been initially very shy of doing things like this outside, and in the first six Wild Songs I’ve chosen times and places when no other people are around…

Maybe there’s somewhere you can experiment with creating your own Wild Song? I’d love to hear about it!

I am planning to make Wild Song 7 soon and will go to my local River Teme to ‘sing the water’. I am thinking a lot about rivers, river health and how we can help our rivers run clear with better management and awareness going into the future.

This month’s MY WILD FAMILY

Oh boy! I just reconnected with a very wild teenage part, I’ve called her Sheba. She loves an adventure and is fearless! She inspired a shopping spree for all things dark deep green. Do you have a colour that holds deep connections, memories?

This month’s creative insights

The first phase of my new river project ‘The Ripple Effect’ has been to ask young people in the Academy of Vocal Music, a youth choir in Birmingham, ‘do you have any questions for rivers? These are some of their answers created by several groups around big pieces of paper:

I particularly like: ‘What nature have you seen while you are flowing?’ “Why are rivers so WET?” and ‘Do you have a frog?’ as well as deeper questions: ‘Why do rivers get polluted?’ ‘How old are you?’ and ‘Will rivers flood the world?’

Maybe you can create your own mindmap of questions, ideas, thoughts in a similar style? What topic would you choose? I’d love to know!

I hope you have had a nourishing and creative start to the year - let me know what you’ve been up to…! Leave me a comment

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Thank you for reading this month’s offering and if you’d like to join my valiant and wonderful band of paid subscribers you will be helping support my work in the future to share generously! Thank you!

Subscribe now

PS If you are feeling extra generous you might consider a one-off donation to my project Passia with the sensational female vocal quintet Papagena

We are raising money to support the tour of Passia, a retelling of the Passion story through the eyes of five women at the foot of the cross. I have set the words of five female writers in this ground-breaking new cantata that explores the hope, love, passion and grief through women’s voices.

The premiere performance at Great Malvern Priory will include the National Children’s Choir of Great Britain performing Four Angel Songs within Passia, alongside Papagena. We will also be performing in Oxford and Christchurch - more news coming soon.

This huge venture presents a seamless 45 minutes of music drawing on modern and ancient sources, including the 9^th century Byzantine Abbess, poet and composer Kassia, with a stunningly beautiful libretto by Sarah Meyrick and Neta Shlain and words by me inspired by the story and the visions of Julian of Norwich. I’ve been working on this score since 2024 and I can’t wait to share it with you. It’s the most ambitious work I’ve undertaken so far in my career.

Here’s a little film of Papagena, and me too, telling a bit about the new work

If you are able to, please donate any amount small or big here – We have a giant target to cover our costs for the writers, composer and performers and need all the help we can get!

Thank you!!

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The year draws to a close.

While I was whizzing around trying to ‘get everything done’ I saw a lady wearing a high vis vest with words that said:

‘PLEASE SLOW DOWN!’

I hurtled past her and her little dog.

Then I thought, hang on a minute….! That was a sign! Oh!

And since then I’ve been thinking about slowing down… whilst being extremely busy. Sometimes there are ways to do this. Stop and breathe. Check in with my body. Can I feel my feet? Touch my heart or hold my belly gently.

This Substack delves into different ‘ways in’ to my own creative world. I share these with you here in the hope that you might find your own ‘way in’. To explore your own creativity, carve your own path, however that emerges and wherever it may lead…

What helps you to slow down?

For me spending time outside is important. The other day I found a sunny bank in the local wood and just sat dawn, soaking up the golden rays.

This month’s CREATIVE INVITATION – can you slowly be?

Can you just sit and be, without ‘doing something?’. I sometimes find this a challenge. Just sit. Or stand. Or lie.

Feel the support of the earth beneath you. Feel into your breath. Feel the air on your skin. Where is a good place for you to just be? Let me know in the comments?

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This month’s 60 WILD SONGS –

This month I have been exploring group improvisation through singing. It can get wild!!!

This has been very enriching for me, freeing my voice and challenging me to let go of internal judgements. I recommend checking out Briony Greenhill who has lots of online resources to develop freely vocalising, if this is something that interests you..?

Local to me in Malvern there is a regular group I like to attend as well run by Ruana Xerri-West.

Is there something you could do that opens things up? Voice, hobby, activity, connecting with others in some way? It can feel intimidating to try, and sometimes a group won’t be the right fit. But keep looking! You may find a gem on your doorstep….

What is the thing you love to do? Let’s build a bank of ideas!

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This Month’s My Wild Family

I have been out having adventures and bringing my various wild gang members along for the ride. It makes me appreciate things in a different way when I check in with my ‘10-year-old Henry’ part.

We were both highly amused by the squirrel by the river who had been posing for me and my camera most alluringly. The shot I captured was not so alluring… but it did make me giggle.

Thank you!

Thank you for reading this month’s offering and if you’d like to join my valiant and wonderful band of paid subscribers you will be helping support my work in the future to share generously!

I offer this Substack freely as I feel it’s important to share and allow those with deeper pockets to support those with less affluent lives. If you are the affluent one right now, your support is needed and very much appreciated!

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Also, I love to receive any and all comments via Substack so please do feed back to me. Posts interesting? Too long? More thoughts on what you like to do? Reflections on your own practice?

All comments are welcome, thank you.

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© Liz Dilnot Johnson 2025
lizdilnotjohnson.co.uk

The season has fully turned to Autumn! Those golden leaves of the silver birches are scattered across the valley. The first frosts have sprinkled white over the hills. I keep catching fragrances and freshness on the air that makes me - stop - and savour.

The stiffly armoured acorns have landed on the earth, their stiff outer shells beginning to soften, slowly, preparing for the growth of a soft new root.

This Substack delves into different ‘ways in’ to my own creative world. I share these with you here in the hope that you might find your own ‘way in’. To explore your own creativity, carve your own path, however that emerges and wherever it may lead…

In the past I felt very shy about my ability to do things and so I’m hoping that my lead will encourage you to find your own thing, whatever it may be.

This month’s CREATIVE INVITATION – have you been glimmered?

I’ve been glimmered!

What does that mean?

· It lifts my heart!

· puts a spring in my step!

· savouring the good stuff in the present moment

· makes me smile on the inside!

I’ve noticed how lots of folks are talking about ‘triggers’ these days. I’d like to balance these important red flags with an equivalent green flag – so you can say ‘I’ve been glimmered by something!’ Hooray!

Glimmers for me are connected mostly with my senses. Something I see, hear, taste, smell or touch. I’ve been actively more sensorily involved in my day - waking up and really smelling the coffee – literally sticking my nose in the coffee jar! It’s zingy!

The other night I was ‘glimmered’ as I walked down the rainy path to my house in the dark (it’s very dark round here!) – I felt something wet and tickly in my ear… I realised it was the tall fuchsia bush saying ‘hello’ with rainy cluster of leaves and its last few flowers. It made me giggle!

I just learnt that Hafiz says,

“God and I have become like two giant fat people living in a tiny boat.

We keep bumping into each other and laughing.”

Glimmers are always cost-free, and will make you smile on the inside. See if you can find a glimmer every day?

You may need to make some small space for the glimmers to come to you. Sometimes I stop and feel the moss on tree bark, feeling how soft, scratchy or soggy it is. This is a glimmering moment for me!

What gives you a glimmer? I’d love to know! Do put a comment at the bottom of this Substack so we can start to share some glimmers and spread the shine!

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Wild Connection - 1 minute starter: Sensing

Spend one minute sensing something - outside in nature.

You could:

· Dig your hands into earth

· Map the surface of tree bark

· Find a pebble and feel all it’s surfaces, maybe with eyes closed

· Touch rained on leaves or dewy grass

· Feel the roughness of a stone or brick wall, notice the colours.

· Rest your head against an old tree - feel and listen

· Sit outside with eyes closed and notice the movement of the air on your skin.

This month’s 60 WILD SONGS –

Wild Song 6 happened recently by the local lakeside. One of my unexpected joys (of doing this improvised response to the landscape) was finding a freshly fallen conker and a clutch of hazelnuts - each with their shiny shells smooth and vibrant, strong and resilient.

This armour is impressive and serves a purpose. It protects the seed until it is ready to start to transform itself.

I found this poem recently and it made me think about how we can transform…

‘Stubborn Resistance’ by Chelan Harkin

It’s okay if you’re scared

when you’re opening.

The seed,

she was scared too.

Do you think the coal

wanted to become

a diamond?

Ha!

She was scared

out of her wits

of change!

It took her 10,000 years

to even be able

to pray for it.

And what about

our favourite cliché, that caterpillar?

You must have heard

his shrieks of resistance

as some bigger force

unwelcomely impelled it

to eat its own form

while disclosing nothing

of those secret wings.

The acorn

was so stodgy,

the far-right

of the plant kingdom

100% closed in by the hard walls

of his staunch beliefs.

My-oh-my did he resist

becoming the regal, generous oak.

The only thing different in us

from them

is we have an even more

stubborn resistance

but ultimately

we are impelled

by the same irresistible force

to completely self-destruct

into a New and Improved

Yet to be Discovered Marvel.

Do your best to allow this —

you too were made for wings.

This Month’s My Wild Family

what is hidden beneath the armour?

My most recent discovery in my wild internal family is Henry. Henry is wildly enthusiastic about sensing things - savouring smells and touching things in a child-like way, with curiosity and delight. Even stinky smells are quite alluring!

But Henry first appeared to me unrecognisable and heavily armoured. First as a giant lobster claw and the next time as a giant black beetle about 2 metres high. The lobster had a giant claw that was red, threatening and vicious.

The giant black beetle was enormous and terrifying.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) teaches how to safely engage with these kinds of scary images when they come up (although not everyone ‘sees’ images like this. It might show up as a feeling, a pain, or a sense of something).

I’ve learnt to accept the giant nightmarish parts when they emerge. Although they can be super scary, I now understand they are the gatekeepers to my own healing, if I can remain calm and curious. There is a way through beyond the outward armour that can lead to resolution and a transformation. Moving from stuck angst into a freer, more connected state.

Allowing the soft root to emerge and find its way.

I’m sharing my own experience here to raise awareness of this kind of work and how it had helped me to heal. I started exploring this in 2024 by reading No Bad Parts and watching videos of Richard Schwartz working with different people.

I’m also sharing this to encourage you to find your own way through to healing any parts that might caught up in suffering. You might prefer mindfulness, breath work, CBT or working with an art therapist.

If you are aware of any resistance in your own system right now, maybe ease up a bit and trust that things can change over time. Awareness is the first step.

This Month’s Creative Artist Diary

RIVER thoughts… I’ve been thinking lots about rivers - more on this soon…! In the meantime, here’s a different water-related work from a few years ago.

Body of Water (plus dog barks) by Liz Dilnot Johnson

Here’s a song I wrote and recorded back in 2018, a time when I was still struggling with some serious physical stuff and starting to be able to ‘feel’ for the first time, really. It’s called Body of Water with me singing and playing harp (and my dog Sacha having a good bark at next door’s cat half way through).

Feel, feel. Feel, feel.

Feel the sea in me

moon pulled,

tide race

I hold within

wave crash

heartbeat.

I hold within

Wave crash heart beat

Wave crash heart beat

Heart beat blood flow

ocean drift

© Liz Dilnot Johnson 2018

A final thought for November:

it occurred to me that speaking, words, speech, talk have nothing to do with sensing.

Sensing is not verbal.

I’m trying to quieten the verbal parts and allow my body, mind and spirit to sense more.

Letting my sensing parts enjoy feeling, tasting, savouring, touching, absorbing and delighting. Being open to the glimmers...!

Thank you!

Thank you for reading this month’s offering and if you’d like to join my valiant and wonderful band of paid subscribers you will be helping support my work in the future to share generously!

I offer this Substack freely as I feel it’s important to share and allow those with deeper pockets to support those with less affluent lives. If you are the affluent one right now, your support is needed and very much appreciated!

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© Liz Dilnot Johnson 2025
lizdilnotjohnson.co.uk

Welcome to October’s WAY IN

Wild Art You – Imagine and Nourish

A warm welcome to my offering this month… something misty and mysterious after all the bright energy of the summer. Time to explore different ways to nourish and nurture ourselves. Time to seek out the things that feed our soul and our spirit. A rich time of delicious harvesting - and feasting too - savouring the gentle cool of Autumn as we start to hunker down, preparing for Winter.

This Substack delves into different ‘ways in’ to creativity that I like to use as a composer and creative - doorways or portals, pathways or magic carpets, maybe? I share this in the hope that you might find your own way in to exploring your own creativity, however that emerges.

Go for it! Courage comes before confidence.

Rather randomly, I first want to share a collection of red things – I decided to seek out one colour and make a photo collage (and have been making a mental note of other reds around the place too). It’s been fun!

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This month’s CREATIVE INVITATION

Have you ever heard the term ‘slay the dragon’? It’s a ‘business advice’ metaphor and the idea is that you tackle the hardest task in your day first so you can get it off your list of things to do.

Although I liked the concept of being brave like this and finding ways to get the difficult stuff done, I was also a bit sad that the dragon had to – well – die….

I wanted to RIDE the dragon! And that’s how my dragon ally came to be. (BTW, I’m aware that the phrase ‘ride the dragon’ might have other connotations, but I’m focussing on my own imaginative version here).

Now, when faced with an onerous task, I can call up my friendly dragon, feed off the strong energy and – and off we go on a wild ride together! I don’t much like doing admin, but if I think of it as a dragon ride it becomes much more appealing…. Ride the dragon and finish that budget sheet!

1 minute starter: Imagine your Friendly Dragon Ally

Spend a minute imagining a beautiful, strong and friendly dragon. This dragon knows you well and is always there to protect you, to take you on adventures and to encourage you to be brave when you need to be. This dragon knows how to give good hugs, how to listen and how to roar when needed. Notice the colours, feel and qualities of the dragon. What is its message to you? Where might you go together?

Here’s a mind map of one person’s 1 minute ‘Dragon Adventure’ created after a 1-minute meditation:

1. Lyra came to visit (female dragon)

2. Took me on a flight, over hills, rivers and mountains…

3. She wanted to show me the beauty of the world…

4. And how small I am really….

5. But that we are strong and visible…

6. And that she will tell me the truth and support me…

7. But I should trust that my own wisdom will guide me always.

Maybe you might find a dragon in an unexpected place. In clouds, in moonlight, in landscapes, on the pavement, or in your imagination?

Maybe a different mythological beast or being is your thing – a unicorn? griffin? sea serpent? a teddy bear? an angel? Allow them in and draw strength from them.

Let me know how you get on… I’d love to learn about your own ways of getting things done, whether that involves dragons or not… so do leave a comment!

This month’s 60 WILD SONGS –

Courage comes before confidence.

Is there something that you want to explore that feels out of reach?

I find this over and over again in my own life.

I’ve come to discover that it is only by being brave, taking a risk, going into something that might feel outside our capability, that we can grow and develop.

If you think about it, as kids we are forced to take on new challenges constantly. As children we can lack confidence because we have no experience. So whenever a new skill is being developed, we have to be brave and give it a go: riding a bike, learning to swim, learning to cook. These are all things that required courageousness in the early stages.

For me, my next brave act is in the diary.

I’m planning Wild Song 6* and will do it on Saturday October 26^th. I haven’t decided where yet. When the day comes, I will be nervous. But I will ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’! I know from doing the other Wild Songs that it will make me feel amazing once I’ve done it. A bit like jumping out of the aeroplane for a sky-dive, I guess… (No, I’ve never done that!)

* See August/September posts for more on the 60WildSongs project

You may be asking, why do you need to be so brave to do this? Why isn’t it easy for you?

So here’s a bit of the background to my own lack of confidence in some areas of using my voice….

Have you ever met people who tell you that they were told as a kid they couldn’t sing, and so they don’t ever sing (except maybe in the shower)*. Maybe that’s you?

I too love to sing in the shower. BUT I too was told I couldn’t sing when I was a kid.

I was around 10 years old when two people told me I couldn’t sing: my Mum and my music teacher: I was asked to leave the school choir. Then My mum said:

‘the one thing we KNOW about YOU is that you’ll NEVER be a singer’

As a kid who loved singing (and had secret dreams of being either a pop star and/or opera diva) these words and actions really hurt me.

Luckily for me I’ve been given plenty of other opportunities to sing and my life is full of singing. I never forget, though.

Those negative words and that feeling still echo around my system.

This is what drives my passion for encouraging everyone to believe that they can use their voice however they want. This is why I’m creating 60 Wild Songs where I go outside into Nature and find a place to sing something that isn’t prepared – a direct response to that specific time, place and feeling.

*Henry Ford said,

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t--you’re right.”

So – is there something you were once told that makes you believe something that is self-limiting? Is there an area of your expression that is not fully free to be itself?

Is there a gentle first step you might take to explore this with the possibility that you can develop in the way you hoped?

Maybe some dragon energy can help guide you?

– I’d love to hear what your story is in the comments, and any ways that you might explore to shift into a more expansive and freer being….

Or if you have any questions around finding ways to transform, I’d love to hear from you… Leave me a comment - thanks!

This month’s MY WILD FAMILY

Using a doodle-niggle as a starting point….

Sometimes words aren’t so useful. Sometimes words are seriously over-rated! One alternative is to move! We all like to move in different ways. Maybe you’re a runner or a dancer, or a walker?

Maybe you like to explore movement in a micro-form, with a pencil and paper? I find this very relaxing. Doodling.

Doodling helps me unwind, sometimes it helps unlock something.

Sometimes I find it helps me connect with one of my inner child parts

This is a doodle created when I was connecting strongly to the ten-year old part that was feeling very hurt, not just because of the choir/voice thing but other scary things happened at that age that I’ve now managed to heal and transform.

I find the doodling also reveals new things that I hadn’t verbalised.

You could try doing a doodle – no rules, no judgement. Or another kind of non-verbal release…? Seek out what works for you.

If you’d like to know about how my inner part doodling got started, check out IFS (Internal Family Systems, created by Dr Richard Schwartz), there’s loads of info and videos you can take a look at.

And finally…

I offer this Substack freely as I believe strongly that we should be all be generous as a first principle. If you are also able to support me with a paid subscription, that will help me enormously! Because…

• We all need money to pay for stuff!

• I will make exciting things happen involving other artists and the wider public if I have access to more money (if you’d like to give me a large donation I’m up for that!)

• Having paid subscribers validates my work - this for me is important as I still feel I need the approval and support of others to help me do my creative work

• It supports the creative industry in a sustainable way allowing me an artist can self-define my focus and concentrate on creating (rather than having to write endless grant applications unpaid in order to get funding)

• It will give you a warm and fuzzy feeling, and make you feel like you are making a difference! Thank you!

  Subscribe now

  Thanks for reading WAY IN Wild Arts You! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work - or become a paid subscriber to help me achieve all I hope for!

Here’s a couple more dragons to give you extra courage this month!

Thank you for reading this month’s offering and if you’d like to join my valiant and wonderful band of paid subscribers you will be helping support my work in the future to share generously! Thank you!

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This is my offering to you this month – do get back to me with any of your own observations, discoveries or wild moments connecting with your creative side…

Enjoy imagining and/or nourishing yourself and your wild spirit! I’d love to hear from you – if you are struggling, if you have done something new, or if you’ve reconnected in some way?

As the season starts to shift we will delve into sweet scents and rich colours…

This month’s CREATIVE INVITATION

Ok, here’s September’s 1 minute starter:

Window Watch

For 1 minute look through a window. Notice what’s there: colours, shapes, sky, people, plants, birds, movements? Observe closely. Capture it in your mind.

You can just watch. You can also…

• make a colour swatch

• write a list of words, colours, shapes, movement

• draw an abstract outline mapping shapes, lines

• something else…?

Next time you do a Window Watch notice any changes.

Here’s one I did out of my window this week

This month’s 60 WILD SONGS – the big idea…

QUESTION: Have you ever stood in a beautiful wild landscape and wanted to open your lungs and sing out to the land in joy??

Finding myself on a hill top or by a waterfall, 
I feel I want to SING! 
But when I try to open my voice 
I find there is nothing there 
- my voice is silent. 

I feel like an idiot. 
I have nothing to sing 
that means anything 
for this unique 
moment in wild nature. 

I wanted to change this. And now I have started to do it…..! (Feel the fear and do it anyway?). Here’s what happened…

In April 2024 I started planning Wild Song 1 – and the idea terrified me….! (even talking about it to others made my tummy go to butterflies, adrenaline flooding my system). My idea was - and is - to create 60 Wild Songs altogether, where I go out into nature and create a vocal response to the land/sky/water/creatures on the spot.

I don’t know how long it will take me, or how it will change my life, but I feel challenged and uplifted by the project - it makes me feel alive! A great way to celebrate turning 60!

Each time I set out to create a Wild Song I am quite nervous and I have to force myself to go and do it. Each time I finish creating a Wild Song I feel elated, I feel connected with the land. I feel GOOD! (I do have to ignore the critical voice that tells me what I did was rubbish and really not worth much).

I have completed five Wild Songs now and the memory of each is clear and beautiful: one in a meadow, one by a river, one in a disused quarry, one by the sea and one by a (different) river. I will share more details in the future - when I’m ready to.

Here are some images from Wild Song 1 - where I started out feeling extremely selfconscious and stiff. After spending some time just breathing, I found a way to sound - very quietly - and so Wild Song 1 came into being.

I am very shy of doing things like this outside, and so far I’ve chosen times and places when no other people are around… but I’m hoping that my inbuilt fear of being seen and heard - (which I think is a cultural) will gradually weaken as I do more Wild Songs….Maybe there’s somewhere you can experiment with creating your own Wild Song? I’d love to hear about it!

This month’s MY WILD FAMILY

One day I was feeling super grumpy and life was irksome. I spent some time exploring (using the advice from No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz. Here’s one of his guidance videos on how to do this). I identified a Slug connected to a younger part of me. Slug had low self esteem. Nihilistic. Keeping me very small.

After some time working through some processes: getting to know the Slug me, reassuring it that I am now quite happy, well balanced and no longer the depressed teenager that Slug was - things started to shift.

Slug - over time - transformed into a beautiful, strong and powerful eagle soaring over mountaintops and commanding a vast and inspiring landscape. This eagle energy is now helping me be brave and take on new challenges - including 60 Wild Songs. This work is all done in the imagination. It all might sound a bit weird, but it has helped me become calmer and to deal with strong emotions that can push me off centre.

Do you have a grumpy slug that might be able to transform?

This month’s creative insights

In September 2023 I spent three glorious days with the choir Ex Cathedra recording my choral album Gentle Flame. Here’s a little film we made about how the whole thing happened, including insights from the singers, conductor and me too:

My relationship with the choir’s founder and conductor Jeffrey Skidmore took some time to develop. I spent a long time, several years in fact, attending concerts, chatting to Jeffrey and letting him know what I was up to, until eventually he gave me a call and invited me to send him ‘something gorgeous for Christmas: three minutes, a capella’. I sent him something, he liked it, and that’s how it all started!

I have been honoured to become Ex Cathedra’s Composer-in-Residence and love working with this choir. You can listen to Gentle Flame on Spotify, Apple Music and all other platforms too - and if you want to support our work do buy the album download direct from the record label Divine Art as this gives me and the artists the most financial payback (unlike Spotify etc where each track generates $0.003 per listen - more info on that here).

Here’s Jeffrey and me during the recording

One of my favourite tracks is ‘The Windhover’, setting Gerard Manley Hopkins’ magnificent evocation of a wild kestrel. Composing this was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done - it was thrilling! I started composing it in 2019 and it was first performed in 2021, and was performed in the stunning acoustics of Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Here’s the track from the album

The opening harmonies were created by using the letters of the name of the dedicatee: ‘Sir Nicholas Wall’ mapped onto an alphabetical grid assigning each letter to a different note. This is a technique I like to use and it helps me find unique harmonies and melodies that I might not ever discover any other way…

Ex Cathedra performing The Windhover in Symphony Hall, Birmingham in 2021.

Have a nourishing and creative month - let me know what you’ve been up to…

Thank you for reading this month’s offering and if you’d like to join my valiant and wonderful band of paid subscribers you will be helping support my work in the future to share generously! Thank you!

Subscribe now

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Hello! Welcome to my August Way In to Imagine and Nourish your Wild Art You!

Have you ever wondered how artists, composers, writers and creatives of all kinds get their ideas and turn them into something magical? This Substack delves into different creative ideas and starting points that I like to use, and I hope it will be a fun adventure for us both. I’d love you to interact, try things out and share your own ideas back with me, if you’d like to?

SECRET…….my secret mission is to get everyone to feel that their own creativity is important, valid and beautiful …..SHHHHH!

• if you find that idea challenging, don’t worry, just join me on the ride and see what comes along!

It may be that you are super busy and it’s not so easy to find time for spending time wandering the wild and being playful. Don’t worry, if that’s you. We will find tiny Ways In to imagine and nourish your wild creative self that won’t take more than a minute called ‘1 minute starter’. (Maybe you can invent your own 1 minute starters and share back? I’d love that!) The idea is to start to find nourishing moments to reset and reconnect.

In Wild Art You - Imagine Nourish I’ll be sharing with you:

• my creative artist diary

• some wild and whacky internal family systems characters I have unearthed in My Wild Family

• 60 Wild Songs where I go out into Nature and improvise something to sing to the landscape, as a wild creature in a wild habitat would sing

This month’s CREATIVE INVITATION

Ok, here’s something to try…

Wild Connection 1 minute starter: spend 1 minute thinking about what your wild, free pursuits were as a kid? Take a moment to think back and see what you can recall…. Maybe there’s something you could reconnect with?

As a kid, creative wildness was an important part of me. Finding and painting pebbles, making friends with beetles in the daffodil patch, dancing wildly around my bedroom and rolling down hills. I was often alone as a child and lucky to have plenty of time to explore my world in the family garden.

This month’s MY WILD FAMILY

Last Autumn I spent some time (starting with one minute…) reconnecting with my wild child memories. I drew this picture and called it ‘Beth’s garden’. It helped me remember there was a daffodil patch I loved to crawl around in.

I realised I missed my childhood garden adventures and decided to recreate the daffodil patch, planting bulbs out last Autumn on a grassy bank in my current garden in Malvern. Then - hey presto! this Spring I sat in amongst the newly grown daffy stems to meet up with beetles and other crawling creatures…

I’m finding that reconnecting with my Wild Art self helps me to feel more nourished and generally makes me feel happy, even just thinking about it.

This formed the first part of my exploration of what is called Internal Family Systems or IFS. I’ll be delving into this in the next posts, and I will share how healing it has been for me. I feel calmer, more connected. Also, if something throws me off my centre, I know have ways to explore what is going on and how to manage things better.

I was given a book called No Bad Parts by my very wise step-daughter and this first introduced me to IFS. It is a book full of hope and action – giving you short exercises you can try by yourself. It has helped me heal in different ways and I highly recommend having a look.

The title of the book refers to the fact that the author and psychotherapist Richard Schwartz - in all his forty years or so of working with IFS - has never encountered a ‘part’ of someone that didn’t have a good intention to protect the person in some way. This may sound a bit odd, but do check out the book or videos and see for yourself. I’ve found it absolutely fascinating… here are some of the parts I’ve reconnected with and found peace with…

• · Beth the daffodil/beetle enthusiast

• · The rock thrower

• · the slug

• · Evie the grieving mother

• · the Black Knight

• · Elizabeth

In future posts I’ll be explaining more about how my journey has helped me heal and feel happier in my own skin, and introducing you to these folks that make up my own Mappa Mundi…

This month’s Creative Artist Diary

This month I’d like to share some of the work I’m currently doing creating a large-scale cantata called Passia. My brief is to compose a retelling of the Passion story through the voices of five of the women at the foot of the cross. Researching this has been an extraordinary adventure… and I am still learning and gathering more all the time. It feels rich beyond measure.

I’m composing for the wonderful voices of Papagena and it is one of the great joys of my work to collaborate with performers of this calibre. We have already had one workshop session looking at the first seven sketches with words ranging from new lyrics written by Sarah Meyrick and Neta Shlain to Hebrew phrases and new words by me too. I’ve recently brought in a new element, thanks to singer Margaret Lingas. She introduced me to the work of Kassia the 9th century Byzantine composer, poet and visionary.

Here’s Papagena singing their own version of Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap

Passia will include the voices of angels and mourning songs from Eastern Europe, and bringing the women surrounding Jesus to life.

The premiere performance is on Monday 30th March 2026 at Great Malvern Priory and Papagena will be touring the work around the UK during 2026. If you would like to discuss organising a performance near you - just let me know! I’ll be sharing the dates on my website

I am now bringing all the different ideas together into the final score - it’s a bit like assembling a musical jigsaw! At the moment only certain things are fixed and everything might move, change, be removed, repeated or extended. It’s a thrilling time for me as the creator - as the music starts to take over and demand certain things should happen. I keep my mind very open during this phase - anything can happen. It’s very satisfying when suddenly I have the first ten minutes of music mapped out. The final piece will be around 30-40 minutes - so there’s lots still to be done.

Here’s another piece of mine setting the words of the Lux Aeterna sung by Ex Cathedra from my Gentle Flame album that plays with some of the same aspects of darkness and light that Passia will.

If you have any questions about my creative process I’d be very happy to respond!

This month’s 60 WILD SONGS

In the weeks leading up to my 60^th birthday (back in 2024) I decided I would use my 60^th year on this beautiful planet as a stimulus for trying things I have never done before (while I still can!).

One idea I’ve always had was about singing - outside – and finding a way to sing freely in response to whatever wild landscape I find myself in. The problem was, I couldn’t do it. I would stand on top of a magnificent hilltop thinking – I wish I could sing something….! But what? I felt an idiot, and very self conscious!

So I came up with the idea of 60 Wild Songs – as a personal quest to find ways to do this. I decided that I would fix a certain date and location for a song and then record whatever happened each time. I thought that if I set out to do sixty of these songs, then by the time I reached the last ones, I might feel more confident about the idea…! As it was even talking about it made me feel anxious, excited and nervous.

On April 25^th, 2024 (my 60^th birthday) I set out and recorded a very short, very very nervous Wild Song 1. Since then, I have recorded four more, each in a different location and at a different time of day. The experience fills me with joy!!!

Pushing through the absolute freeze and fear I feel before going to create each Wild Song has been really eye-opening. The first five Wild Songs are etched into my memory like beautiful visions. After having completed a Wild Song, I experience a beautiful sense of euphoria. I feel more connected to myself, and to the landscape. I feel more connected to the earth and the air, and to all the creatures around me.

I still feel extremely nervous and very exposed when I set out to create a Wild Song, I’m hoping that this will subside as I keep doing it! My hope is that this will start to feel normal, to be able to sing freely like a bird, without self-consciousness or the inner critic getting in the way. - We’ll see!

I will be sharing some of the details about each Wild Song in the next posts and if you feel you might like to try creating your own Wild Song, do give it a try! I’d love to hear about your experiences….

And finally…

I offer this Substack freely as I believe strongly that we should be all be generous as a first principle. If you are also able to support me with a paid subscription, that will help me enormously! Because…

• We all need money to pay for stuff!

• I will make exciting things happen involving other artists and the wider public if I have access to more money (if you’d like to give me a large donation I’m up for that!)

• Having paid subscribers validates my work - this for me is important as I still feel I need the approval and support of others to help me do my creative work

• It supports the creative industry in a sustainable way allowing me an artist can self-define my focus and concentrate on creating (rather than having to write endless grant applications unpaid in order to get funding)

• It will give you a warm and fuzzy feeling, and make you feel like you are making a difference! Thank you!

Start a Substack

WAY IN: Wild Art You ~ Imagine & Nourish creative connections with wild places

Welcome to WAY IN! discovering creative connections, you have found your way in to imagine and nourish in wild and creative ways! Join me on a journey of doodling, dallying, imagining, being, connecting, humming in wild landscapes and more…

Hello! Together we will…

explore WAYs IN to creative adventuring (inside and out) to give you ideas and inspiration for your own wild connections creating and resonating with the landscape around and inside you in different ways.

~ doodle, muse, walk, hum, dance, cook, write, or just enjoy... you decide ~

Sometimes I’ll be showing you my own creative work and sometimes I’ll give you invitations to start your own creative adventures in different ways. It will be fun!

How does it work?

Every month I will share new WAY IN creative invitations for you to find your own ways to imagine and nourish your creative side (even if you don’t think of yourself as that creative - no pressure!)

There will be four different themes each month:

• 1-minute creative invitations: a tiny offering to find a way to connect to and imagine with your creative side - here’s one I made that you can try!

• 60 Wild Songs: tracking my challenge to myself to find 60 ways to sing freely outside in nature, and an invitation to try something yourself…

  

• Creative Insights: peeking behind the scenes in my composing and co-musing projects connected to people, landscapes and wild nature with invitations to explore something that resonates in you…

  …and for entertainment (and a bit of a breather….) here’s a little tune by me called Sweet Bramble Bush (with some sour berries too, watch out) just to jolly us all along…

• My Wild Family: drawings inspired by my own wild and whacky ‘internal family systems’ journey with an invitation to delve into your own internal landscapes with links to inspirational books, videos and other material that has helped me heal

  

We can build a creative community…

Do you want to be part of a creative community? As we respond to the different WAY IN invitations we will learn about each other’s creativity and - maybe - new connections will be made.

I love sharing my ways of thinking and making. I always think that creativity surrounds us! I hope to show you it’s easy to discover new ideas and connections if we set out with a clear purpose (and even when we don’t!).

I can’t wait to hear and see what you discover about your own creativity - and I welcome everyone to share! I’m looking forward to seeing what might emerge with our creative connections…

Who is Liz?

I am an award-winning British composer working in different settings from local community projects to national events. I work with everyone from children, families and members of the public to top professional musicians, poets and artists of today. My working practise is very intuitive and I love to share my ideas and to encourage everyone, however creative or not they feel, to explore different ways to create and connect. Sometimes magic happens…

Why is Liz doing this now?

So I’m starting this in 2025, I’m well, happy! …and full of ideas to share. But for a long period of time I was very poorly, virtually housebound and as a result of this I had to let go of my life as it was - a busy teaching, lecturing, creative leading and project designing career - from 2014-2021. This was a VERY tough call at the time, but in fact it has turned out to be transformational for me. I am very fortunate that I am now returned to full health YIPPEE! - both physically and mentally. When I was unwell my physical and mental health were seriously challenged.

So now I feel SUPER GRATEFUL for every opportunity to share encouragement and gentle guidance with anyone who may be struggling with their own wellbeing or creative path. I started out my adult life with extremely low self esteem and unhelpful views about my own capabilities. I now understand that I have gifts to offer and share and delight in. I strongly believe that everyone has their own gifts - each of us is different and each of us has the potential to light up the world in some way.

Why support Liz on Substack?

Substack supports creative artists in a very useful way! If you’d like to support my ongoing work as a creative, as a leader and as a composer then you can do that in different ways. First you can SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE - click the button - which will be fun for me and for you too, I hope!

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Also you can RECOMMEND my Substack to others, and share the joy (thanks!). You can also set up a PAID SUBSCRIPTION! This is good for us all - as it means I can do the work I love, and you can feel that you are supporting someone who is passionate about the wellbeing of us all, as well as supporting all those who can’t manage a paid subscription at this time. THANK YOU!

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Just to explain the Substack system - I do have the option to ‘withhold’ bits of this Substack to ‘Paid Subscriptions Only’ but this goes against my philosophy of sharing my creative practise with everyone. So if you are able to commit to a paid subscription, everyone’s a winner! (And don’t worry if you can’t right now - that’s also completely fine). Everyone is welcome!

There is also a FOUNDER MEMBER option and a one-off donation available so if you have deep pockets feel free to give generously! When I receive energy through money I will commission other artists and set up free projects, so you will be helping make the world a better place. You’ll hear more about that in the posts to come.

THANK YOU for whatever ways you engage here, it all means a lot!

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