This week is a fun week as it’s all about the music. Recently I had a fall and injured my shoulder, so I’ve been taking it easy, but I’m so happy to be able to get back into practice... or is it practise? Anyway, I’ve been setting my little kitchen timer to 30minutes so I don’t over do it, but I’ve got quite a few things to finish off. I’m recording this now at the end of the week, so I didn’t quite get there, but there are only two of these animated videos left to finish now so that's exciting!
In case you’re wondering what on Earth they are, they will accompany Pierrette’s magical tale that I was speaking about last week. I have a vision of doing some live performances later in the year, with these videos as a backdrop and with a narrator. That would be amazing if I can get that going so I’ll keep you posted. Anyway, here’s a little of what I got up to.
First I wrapped some paperback books and posted them off. Books are the perfect item for wrapping and I have reams of this butcher’s paper that someone kindly gave me. I’m a big fan of a black ribbon, and although I might change this packaging later, I have quite a few rolls on hand at the moment. One thing I’ve also been looking into is sustainable postage bags. I found some compostable ones made from biodegradable materials, so I’ll try to get some of those. I printed these little stickers which feature one of the mask images I’ve made...I’ll tell you more about them in the fourth week.
Now it’s onto the practice. I’ve made the music diaries in the above picture for writing in what you are practicing each week. This year I had an idea to create a practice pineapple. I read they are formed out of around 150 flowers and take up to two years to grow. I think that’s pretty fascinating, and I’ve been contemplating making a flower at the end of each week of practice. Yep, probably another distraction, but a fun one.
That's me practicing, getting back into it. In the video I look like I’m not doing much, but for me, it’s a lot about feeling and although I’ve been playing for thirty-five years, I still need to practice my open strings. The next day you can see a bit of ricochet, preparing for recording the Carnival of Venice. In case you are wondering, it’s a bow stroke that intentionally bounces with the one sweep. Like skimming a stone across the surface of the water...in my case, hopefully a bit more controlled than the kaplonk I usually get.
New Year's Eve and a great time to get started on finishing Pierrette. For these videos, I draw the animations using Adobe Fresco, then I record myself playing in front of a blue screen, sewed out of fabric. At the time, I was being resourceful and saving money, but I wouldn’t recommend that process! There’s a lot of ironing involved and it doesn’t hang very evenly a lot of the time, leading to some cleaning up when I transport the video in iMovie.
However, this sometimes has some surprising and interesting effects, as it can make my green skirt become transparent or my legs or bow disappear! I also had a costume to fix with a clever ribbon attaching device.
Later that night we watched the fireworks, it’s always important to wear sparkles on New Year’s Eve. Don’t you think?
The 2nd of January was about getting back into finishing the album. For the Violetta books and short stories, I plan to publish albums on Spotify etc. but it’s quite difficult to finally decide they are ready. The Swan has been especially challenging and after last week I decided to change the introduction for the Paganini concerto reprised. Unfortunately after recording...the whole thing disappeared.
Deep breaths and chocolate. A couple of remedies for frustration, along with a walk along the beach. By the time my feet hit the sand I was feeling very grateful for being able to play again. Only a couple of weeks ago, I was worried I might not be able to!
The following morning I was back into editing the music for the Swan. In case you are curious about my process, I made a little series a while back on how I use GarageBand. Luckily, the Swan wasn’t lost and as I took a break for a run, all the birds seemed to be happy about it too.
For the swan, I’m wearing my wedding dress from almost twenty years ago. It has quite a long train, so it’s a little difficult to position!
The final part of the video process is putting it into iMovie. It’s actually one of the quicker parts...if I’m happy with it. Not quite sure yet about these two Alexs. I think they should be floating a little further back in the picture, so I’ll keep working.
Thank you for reading/watching and I hope you have enjoyed seeing how these videos get put together. I’m sure there is a faster and easier way to do it with AI, but I have fun creating them, and I’m a bit of an individual. I’m also discovering I prefer to create things that are imperfect and unique. Although it’s taken me longer than I expected to finish things, the words of singer, dancer, poet and activist Maya Angelou have really helped me. She has so many inspiring things to say about creativity, telling our stories and courage. She also says our passions don’t find us by random, even if they seem completely bizarre!
Maybe you have an unusual idea too? I hope so and if you do, I say go for it!
On that note, next week will be about the writing so until then, happy creating everyone!
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