Like Halloween, my connection with the ancient celebration halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice stems to my rural-Illinois childhood. I have loved memories of my neighbor Erma leaving us May baskets and us, leaving flowers and hand-drawn baskets we made at school on each other’s doors. The fun part being you had to do it anonymously, just the right amount of mischievous for a laugh.
Moving into my own city and neighborhood, May 1st or May Day continued to grow in connections. First, one of dearest girlfriend’s birthday is on 5/1 - and a celebration of friendship always heightens the fun factor. Second, leaving surprises on my neighbors doorsteps is so much fun, I can’t help it + our front yard pops off every spring in tulip mayhem. I am obsessed with the tulips' resiliency in Colorado spring weather and how each year they keep coming back stronger. These were planted by the previous owners - I now reap this yearly delight, they were meant to be shared.
This year, I feel like I’m up-leveling in my floral game by recycling and thrifting various bottles to leave my sneaky surprises.
Finding some recent studio time to play around, I turned to my journal to connect further to May Day, a way I like to let my journaling and curiosity lead me.
In my creative practice, I just love discovering creative connections through the learning process. Plus, like hello, the internet. This sort of “curiosity research” to my childhood self meant getting a ride from my Mom to the library in a different town - this is so easy in comparison.
I enjoyed these resources in diving deeper - this Farmer’s Almanac article May Day 2024: What is May Day? And this PBS learning video May Day | All About the Holidays.
Following my research time, I wanted to just listen to Maggie Rogers’ Don’t Forget Me and make marks. Working in multiples on the same subject is a way I like to get into the flow of working. Corita advised this practice in Learning by Heart (2008, p. 155),
“One way to start working is to put something, anything, on paper and then do it over and over. This can relax you and allow greater freedom because you are less critical (none has to be the best picture ever made). Playing allows you to slip into working from which you can easily slip back into playing. Then come those marvelous and rewarding moments when you are making and you are not conscious of thought or anything outside”
Which is how I got from here to there with creative ideas.
I’m really into this sample I got at NAEA - a red tempera paint called a Kwik Stix.
May Day Bouquets, digital mixed media. 2024.
I’m wrapping up my Psychology of Creativity course this spring, and part of my reflection process is looking through my journals from the term. Here’s a 14 sec. time lapse of my April course notebook and daily journaling practice.
creative exercise: draw a flower
Or take a picture of a flower, think about a flower, send a flower to a loved one. Just celebrate their existence with your creative light.
Flowers are a big part of May Day, dating back to the ancient Roman festival Floralia, festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers. (Floralia is also hilariously the video game location in Kirby - Floralia (Kirby).
Bonus creative connection:
More depictions of the Roman goddess Flora throughout history and present day fashion.
The red flower print you see in our home is by Lisa Congdon.
My boyfriend and subscribed reader KBrugh loves this time of year. Here’s a video he created of his dream April Saturday working in his garden, it’s one of the many reasons why I love his creative light.
Thank you for making it here! I wanted to update on taking a self-imposed May Pause. I’m instructing a new course, being with family, and working on creative projects. Which means my social media presence - i.e. writing on substack, posting on instagram - is the last thing on my mind. This month, I’m going to lean into that incubating phase. So while I’ll be writing and journaling throughout this process, I’m feeling a need to take a pause from social media - I’m sorry, but I also think you’re understanding, for more read
interview with Finnish artist Aino-Maija Metsola “It’s quite unrealistic to think that you can make great things all the time.”See you in June!
References
Corita Kent, Jan Steward (2008). Learning by Heart: Teachings to Free the Creative Spirit, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
That video is so Keenan. Love it!