June 25, 2019

Sketchbook Snapshot: June 8th, 2019

angelleconant Art, Creativity, Sketchbook Snapshot colored pencils, drawing, moana, sketchbook 0 Comments

You guys. I sat down to sketch with no particular idea in mind and I think I ended up drawing Moana’s Grandma.

This lady kind of looks like Moana’s fun, eccentric Grandma to me.

What are you sketching? Send me a pic or tweet me @angelleconant.

May 12, 2019

My Music is Out There

angelleconant Creativity, Living, Music full moon, music, release, singing, single 1 Comment

I’ve done it. I’ve released my first single. A song that I’ve created, recorded, mixed and mastered is out in the great wide world.

You can check it out on most major streaming services including Spotify. You can also purchase it here.

I thought I’d have more feelings, bigger feelings about it, but I don’t really. It actually feels really normal and almost routine even though this is the first single I’ve ever released. And I think that’s a good thing – a good sign of the many singles to come. And they will be singles. That is my current, preferred way of releasing my music. Perhaps I’ll gather them all into an album some day but maybe not.

What I do know is how hard I’ve worked to get to this point – there was such a steep learning curve for me in recording, mixing and mastering. It did not come easily or naturally but I’m glad I took the time to learn it (and, of course, I’m still learning). In addition, there was the emotional work required of me to be vulnerable enough to share this and that work still continues.

I hope you enjoy it. And if you don’t, that’s okay too. My music is not for everyone. But if you do, feel free to share it with like-minded friends, add it to your playlist, leave me a comment, and/or sing along at the top of your lungs.

I look forward to sharing more with all with you. <3

P.S. Be on the lookout for this symbol for the story behind this particular song (coming soon) :

December 19, 2018

Why Good Music Videos are Important

angelleconant Art, Music, Words music, music video, stories 1 Comment

I was making a playlist of favorite songs and I realized that a lot of them happened to come from movies. I think this is because the story of the movie imbues the song with even more power. It cements it in my mind as a powerful emotional piece.

Later in the week, my sister was telling me about Ariana Grande’s new songs and she kept saying, “The music video is so good too” and telling me I needed to watch it. The thing is, I’ve never really been into music videos. Many of them add nothing to the music listening experience and some even detract from it. But then I realized that good music videos do the same thing as movies – they cement the story of the song in my mind. And in fact, this had happened to me before.

Katy Perry’s song, “Wide Awake”, had been playing on the radio for a while. I liked the song well enough but had no deep, emotional connection to it. One day I was on YouTube and stumbled across the music video for “Wide Awake” and I was blown away. As I watched the video, the story that I was seeing played out before my eyes was helping me see the song in an entirely new way and I was able to connect to that song on a new level. In addition, every time I hear that song, I’m reminded of the video and the deep emotional connection just as I am when I hear a favorite song from a movie. The song on it’s own was not very powerful. But when I was shown the meaning behind it, through the visuals of the music video, it became very powerful for me.

I suspect this ties into the power that stories have over us humans. As Jonathan Gottschall says in The Storytelling Animal (an excellent book that you should read):

“When we read nonfiction, we read with our shields up. We are critical and skeptical. But when we are absorbed in a story, we drop our intellectual guard. We are moved emotionally, and this seems to leave us defenseless.”

And Oliver Sacks speaks about the power of music in
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain:

“Music, uniquely among the arts, is both completely abstract and profoundly emotional. . . . Music can pierce the heart directly; it needs no mediation.”

So a music video, a good one anyways, is taking the emotional power of stories and the emotional power of music and combining them in a profound way. Wow. I hadn’t given much thought to making music videos to accompany my music album when it’s done, but I definitely will now.

Watercolor. © 2018. Angelle Conant. All Rights Reserved.

October 3, 2018

THE LOVE SERIES #13: Doctor Who

angelleconant Art, The LOVE SERIES art, doctor who, love series, the love series, watercolor 1 Comment

It’s fall – and I know this not because of the weather (it’s in the high 80s here in Houston). No, I know it’s fall because one of my favorite TV shows is returning this Sunday after a very long break. Doctor Who returns this Sunday and I am beyond excited! I’ve been craving this show for a few weeks now and it’s because of what it stands for: hope, kindness, courage, wonder and love (among many others). This show has been and continues to be a bright light in my life and a beacon of hope to many.

So I’ve chosen Doctor Who as the 13th installment of my Love Series which is serendipitous as this Sunday will be the premiere of the 13th Doctor. She will be the first female version of the Doctor and I can’t wait to see what adventures she’ll take us on. Allons-y!

October 1, 2018

Your Story Matters

angelleconant Art, How Different The World Might Be, Living, Politics, Words affirmations, art, healing, love trumps hate, metoo 0 Comments

I was laying in bed having just finished Hannah Gadsby’s riveting special, Nanette, on Netflix – I was in awe as it had been full of vulnerability, courage and wisdom. There were many great moments in her special, but I think my favorite line was “There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself.” I was so moved, I had to post about it on Twitter. A preternatural sense had had me avoiding Twitter all week and that’s when I found out why.

The Brett Kavanaugh hearings and commentary overwhelmed my feed. As I scrolled Twitter, the anger inside of me had hot tears of anger rolling down my face. I remembered all of the me too stories that had recently been shared (and all the shaming and non-believing). I also remembered my own me too story – I’d done my personal healing around it years ago but I’d never dealt with my cultural anger and sorrow. As my daughter slept safe and sound in the room next door, my anger reignited. Not as a survivor of sexual abuse but as a mama who was fiercely determined to not allow anything like that to happen to her daughter. Or any more daughters or sons.

But what power did I have? What could I do? I quietly marched to my office, my anger and sorrow turning to resolve and I opened up my sketch book and began to write the first things that came out. To my surprise, they were not words of anger but words of comfort, understanding, empathy, and hope. They were words to sexual abuse survivors everywhere, including that little girl inside of me.

They came out in a flurry and then started to peter out. It had been so long since I’d been in that place of pain and intense suffering. So I did something I thought I’d never do – I got out my 10 year old journal from when I was healing and I read the fears, pains and sorrow of a young woman touching her deepest childhood pain for the first time. I cried. And the words began to flow again as I wrote to her the things she needed to hear.

This is my #metoo collection. They are reminders, affirmations and messages of connection and hope. If you need to print one out for yourself or a friend, please feel free to do so. They are my offering. They are my hope and my healing.

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August 12, 2018

I Am Enough

angelleconant Art, How Different The World Might Be affirmations, art, l'amour art car, love, self-acceptance 0 Comments

Here it is – the top dog of positive affirmations. At least, I think it is. After years of reading, soul-searching, witnessing, and listening, I’ve come to see that for so many of us our psychological baggage can be boiled down to one core belief: I am not enough. And when I break down most other affirmations to their essence, what they are really saying is “I am enough.”

Brene Brown has much to say about being enough and feeling worthy but here is a small taste and one of the quotes that I had on my L’Amour Art Car:

Those who feel lovable, who love, and who experience belonging simply believe they are worthy of love and belonging. – Brene Brown, Daring Greatly

It really, truly is as simple as that and that’s why this affirmation is so powerful. If the belief of “I am not enough” is at the core of most of our baggage and it can be changed by simply believing that we are enough, imagine what saying and internalizing “I am enough” could do for someone’s life. I know what it can do for a life because it changed mine and continues to do so.

August 5, 2018

Get Messy

angelleconant Art art, children, creativity, gentle reminders, get messy, parenting, watercolor 0 Comments

A while back I wrote about some gentle reminders I created and put on my refrigerator to help me survive toddlerhood (thankfully, they’ve been working). One of those was this one:

This was one of my first forays into watercolor and I had a ton of fun making this one. If you too would like to ‘Get Messy’ (see what I did there?), you can try out some cool watercolor techniques by watching this YouTube video. It’s the one I used when I was learning all about painting with watercolor. Now get messy!

July 22, 2018

Sketchbook Snapshot: A Light in the Dark

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Sometimes, we just need a little light to find our way.

And when I’m feeling particularly down and I feel like the darkness is closing in, I like to remind myself of this quote that I had on my L’Amour Art Car:

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.-Mahatma Gandhi