Sunday 12th January

Welcome to this week’s Sundaze Papers, some thoughts and reflections on the past week: drawing updates, sketchbook pages, what’s growing in the garden, glimmers, struggles, inspirations and moments of calm.

My main project at the moment is working on my teapot theme (you can read more about that over on my Substack - where you can see all the sketchbook pages I worked on and I also talk about the search for meaning…) This yellow teapot is nearly finished but I feel like something is missing… so I’ve popped her in a frame for some more pondering.

I’m also working on a piece for Dydd Santes Dwynwen on January 25th. I have an idea for another drawing so if I have time there may be two, and once there ready I’ll share them over on instagram along with the story of Santes Dwynwen in case you’ve never heard it :)

This week has mostly been about pondering my goals and intentions for 2025. I know new years resolutions aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I absolutely love the feeling of a blank page. However, I did over do it this week, leaving myself feeling a bit burned out and had to remind myself that the depth of winter is perfectly good for the planning and getting to the root of what I’d love to create this year, but that doesn't mean I have to try and achieve it all NOW. Starting new habits is hard and should be a slow and gentle integration if we want to succeed at them.

My word for 2025 is creativity, as I would love to build back up my drawing practice that has been a little neglected the last couple of years, and I thought a nice way to share what I’m working on and as a personal journal of sorts, would be this Sundaze Papers, a weekly check in on what’s working and what’s not.

Tomorrow we have a Full Moon in Cancer. I absolutely love following the moon, a way to think about where I am and what I’m doing. The last new moon I sowed some seeds for the garden, not much as it’s so cold they’re slow to grow, but a few brassicas and I like the act of sowing seeds as I think about what I would like to sow in my life over the next moon cycle. The sun is currently also in Capricorn, which is a lot about work and structures, so that’s what I’ve been focusing on the last two weeks. I really don’t like having set routine or too much confinement in terms of structures, especially not anything linked to the usual 9-5, Monday to Friday energy. But I do like rhythms and cycles and I feel like having no structure at all just creates chaos and a lack of direction and progress.

So I’m trying out some new ways to structure my work and assess how they work for me, one being the themed drawings. I have a listed process to work through, no deadline but just an action triggered by the completion of the previous action. Something I can put down amidst the busy weeks and know where to pick myself back up again when life feels calmer. And the second structure is this Sundaze papers. I feel its so important that we find ways that work for us as individuals rather than trying to walk down the paths trodden by someone else.

The land here is beautiful at the moment, filled with wild chamomile and starwort (I’m in love with these little star like white flowers). The Horta (veggie garden) is fairly quiet, only offering us some salad leaves and cabbage and very slow growing beetroots. I’m already dreaming of my spring garden and today we chipped a lot of wood that we’ll use for the paths. We pretty much constantly have at least one Egret on the land which I absolutely adore, I can’t stop watching them and they make me smile every time they fly over the kitchen roof. They even sneaked their way into one of my teapot sketches.

I’m currently re-reading Women Who Run with the Wolves by the psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Whenever I don’t have a book on the go I just pick this one up as I always find some new nugget of wisdom in her words and stories, and a reminder to keep creating to keep sane. I do really need to do a book shop, my go to is buying them Second Hand from Vinted (and trying not to buy any clothes at the same time).

Somethings I’ve loved recently:

The Avicii - I’m Tim documentary on Netflix. I remember being in the van with Iwan travelling around Europe when we heard that he had died and we blasted his music whilst driving through tiny French villages in our Renault Traffic.

The Traitors on BBC - I get way to emotionally involved.

These two songs (thanks to my bestie Calla for the Oom Sha La La track):

Well I hope you’ve enjoyed these Sundaze Pages :)

Happy Sunday, happy Full Moon tomorrow, happy beginning of 2025.

So much love, Carissa xx