Tag: colouring in

Freelance Reflections #28

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It’s the penultimate week of the Living Record Festival, so you have until listen to ‘Circles’ and send me your designs via @carminamasoliver on Instagram. I would love to see them! You just need to print out the design and colour with pens, pencils, felt tips – whatever you have at hand!

Last night, I recorded the live Zoom event, which is now available to watch back when you buy the ticket bundle, which is £5 for the ‘Circles’ audio, PDF activity and Zoom video download. I discuss the journey of ‘Circles’, and read some new poems about my late grandad and processing the grief. I also still have just under 30 copies of the ‘Circles’ book (Burning Eye Books) available to post. I can sign your copy with a dedication of your choice when you buy it from me directly.

Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. Is it just me, or is it impossible to ignore? Tonight I plan to drink some F*ckboy Tears whilst watching the ‘Queer Heart Breakers Ball’. It features Jenny Foulds, Desree and Reece Lyons, who are all amazing! I also have heart-shaped meat pies and, having to work today, I’m very much looking forward to it!

I’m also hoping to attend Worst Date Ever on the day itself. I’ve seen both shows live before and they’re sure to make an excellent Valentine’s weekend, however you’re feeling about it! I think avoiding social media and attending events like this will be best as I already saw a post about someone’s boyfriend giving them thoughtful little pre-Valentine’s gifts, and it’s really hard to compare, even when you’re feeling happy before you see it! Will I be able to follow my own advice though? Let’s see…

Freelance Reflections #26

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It’s the second week of Living Record Festival, and after just five ticket sales, I’m being reminded that it’s better than nothing, and to hold on to the reasons why we do this, why we create and put it out to the world. It’s not the number of connections, but the connections themselves. So, I’m holding on to this lovely comment I’ve been given permission to share from Jodie Adams.

I’ve reached out to family members, which has been encouraging. After over a decade in poetry, it gets harder to ask for support from friends and family. A part of you thinks, shouldn’t you have an audience by now? Shouldn’t you not need them anymore? These kinds of thoughts can lead to a bad spiral, so sometimes it’s best to just ask directly, appreciate those who give the time, and understand those who don’t.

So far, my maternal grandmother and one of my cousins have sent me pictures of how they listened. I love how my gran has put her margarita inside the circle as something she loves, and how both of them have created such a nice space to give themselves that 15-minutes to focus on listening and colouring.

When you buy the audio stream of Circles, for £5 as well as the audio and the Zoom Q&A, you get a copy of this black and white PDF of the book cover to colour in and draw inside, following the instructions. I also had a go at it myself and just about got the flowers coloured in by the end, finishing with this new doodle that was inspired by an exercise my friend Natalie Cooper (who illustrated the She Grrrowls anthology poems). I have often doodled and actually, as someone who is more of a conceptual artist (when it comes to visual art, this is always what I say, tongue-in-cheek, having illustrated my ‘Circles’ book myself), this is something I’d love to do more in an active way. After talking to someone else about their art therapy, which sounded like it incorporated similar techniques, I find it fascinating how doodling allows the free flow of moment without a plan, in a way that is so opposite to how I often work and live.

Lastly, I also want to recommend the film ‘Soul’. With everything that is happening in my life and other people’s lives at the moment, it was just so heart-warming and appropriate. I also recommend the short film on Disney + that goes into the background of the film.