My final morning at Cove Park’s brisk, sunny lochside and I am embracing my precious new ritual.

A steaming pot of fresh coffee and my chunky mug are on a perfectly sized tray for one. The notebook in my hand is eagerly awaiting my pen’s daily musings. Many a morning I’ve looked across the wonderful Loch Long ruminating on my immediate thoughts and reflecting on puzzling questions lingering in the air. 

It’s my last day collaborating with Charlie Brittain. Tomorrow it will just be me reflecting, revisiting and pulling all that has transpired this week together. To help me with this lonely and scary task, we’ve had a real bumper day of discussions and movement development. Now dusk is on the horizon as we hear a buzz of activity in the main building. The Cove Park team has arranged for a ‘celebrity’ chef to cook a Mexican meal for all of us residents and some outside guests. Before that happens we both take a moment to chat and look back over the week. Here’s my notes of what we talked about. 

The beauty of this residency is that you do have a chance to converse with other artists from other disciplines, usually while waiting for your dinner to finish cooking or over a morning brew. The oven hobs take a degree of skill to master, so dinner prep is a way longer task than you’d first imagine. Anyway, I digress.  One such conversation happened with Carl Linstrum. He happened to mention how our process reminded him of Twyla Tharpe’s book ‘The Creative Habit’. No one can miss what we are up to these last few days as our post-it notes on the wall in the studio multiply daily, visible to everyone from the outside balcony. His comment made my day because I read that book when first leaving Laban and it has stayed with me. 

What a dreadful night’s sleep! My subconscious kept me up most of the night bombarding me with new ideas and full throttle replays of recent conversations. Some made perfect sense but in my dreamlike state a lot of my rapid brain talk felt like a mash-up of Tim Burton and Salvador Dali rather than the mental ease I needed. And being wide awake from 3.40 am is not my ideal kickstart to the day.

Imagine two tuning forks laid out before you, one antique and very precious, the other brand new and shiny. Totally different sizes, shapes and textures. At first glance, these two objects could in no way create a perfect harmony together. How wonderful it is then to hear a beautiful resonating chord ring out loud and clear from the first magic strike. Right from the get-go, the verbal ping pong Charlie Brittain and I enjoy has this perfect resonance born from us both living in the moment and questioning everything. This kind of freedom is incredibly rare for me; I can count on one hand the people with whom I can have an unfiltered, unapologetic, deep diving, non judgemental, humorous and often creative conversation.

I find it deeply comforting being the first into a new space and getting as far as Loch Long yesterday means we are the earliest new arrivals at Cove Park. We also get to see all the busyness around the venue as cleaning and changeover goes on. Alexia Holt, Acting Director / Senior Director of Programmes and all her team give us a heartfelt welcome; they are truly invested in making our stay at Cove Park as rich and rewarding as possible. Their passion is to support residential artists in any way they can in order to nurture the creative process. I don’t even think they see it as a job.

We’ve made it to Scotland! We had to ditch our initial travel plans due to the imminent rail strikes. To make it a bit more of a joint adventure, we peppered our solo journeys with regular coordinated coffee stops so we could start planning together. Definitely recommend the Westmorland chain of services, a step up from your usual McMoto drive-thru.

A seismic shift in perspective happened to me this weekend.

So much so that I am compelled to share my journal entry with you. I’ve been making handwritten notes of my Developing Your Creative Practice work for the last few months, since I received my funding from Arts Council England. Until today, 13 June 2022, none of my other entries even has a date assigned. Today is different, today has seen a remarkable new development.

Day of rest.

It’s been relaxing dog walks, comfort food and a ‘can’t afford this but I’m worth it’ bottle of wine. Ok, it’s also time to reveal a truth, I’m a total sucker for musicals. It’s the only type of show that I get that spine-tingling effect when the power punch of a song belts out. Sorry neighbours, I’ve started playing the Blu-ray refreshed production of Miss Saigon. A good sing-along for one happens. What happiness…

…erm, not quite. That came later, after one more (sort of) work Zoom gig, with my Newbury CrossFit chums.

Weekend, yeah! Mind, I now have no concept of days or weekends anymore. My husband is in London, our first break from each other in over 4 months due to Covid-19 rules, to be left alone (with dogs) and an opportunity to kick back and relax.

Relax? Erm, difficult. So, I’ll do some planning instead.

Phew! Definitely a far more upbeat day it’s been. Yes, another busy round of paperwork, filming, Zoom meetings etc. Is it just me or are you envious of those individuals saying they’ve had time to learn a language, explored cooking new things and been able to clean out their lofts? My experience is so not that. I’m just swamped keeping afloat.

Phew! Definitely a far more upbeat day it’s been. Yes, another busy round of paperwork, filming, Zoom meetings etc.

Is it just me or are you envious of those individuals saying they’ve had time to learn a language, explored cooking new things and been able to clean out their lofts? My experience is so not that. I’m just swamped keeping afloat.

The metaphorical thick storm clouds are determined to stay with me today. So, let’s start with some provocations. Does the current funding system work? Is it fair? And, is now an ideal time to rethink our whole damned approach to funding artists?

6:00 am and sleepy-eyed. I grab Wilson, the freshly recharged batteries and not forgetting that last-minute late-night scribbled note. Yes, an early start again in the garage, as first thing are the golden hours when I can film uninterrupted before traffic in our village makes it a more comical stop/start process.

It’s Monday. A fresh week and I’m full of the get-go! It’s time for me to put on my jack-of-all-trades hat and flex those newly developed skills thanks to Covid-19, as I go full video production house mastery today.