May Fools & Big Leaf Maples

Friday's Substack Live Recording + images and prompts

On Friday, May 1, Sarah and I hosted our second Substack Live. We’re still getting to know this format and have learned that we can’t just toss images into the comments below the video. So, I’m hoping to create something a little more comprehensive here: video + the prompts and images Sarah and I wanted to share.

Here’s the video where we do a little show-and-tell from the busy month of April: what we learned from running a Kickstarter campaign, from our ArtsWalk activities, and what we’re doing next:

Sarah’s Prompt

Sarah shared the following prompt based off of two cards she pulled from her personal oracle deck: winter & transformation.

Card background: the maple tree in my (Sarah’s) backyard during winter, at rest, replenishing its resources in preparation for spring. The caterpillar turning to goo in its cocoon as it undergoes transformation.

The prompt: put two things together and follow your creative impulses: How do these two cards in relation to one another speak to you?

Jenn’s Prompt

Sarah and I didn’t plan to both feature big-leaf maples, but that kind of synchronicity happens pretty regularly. This is a big-leaf maple that lives next to my house:

And this is the prompt that I offered in our free Joyful Practice Workshop on 4/18:

What trees have you known?

Tell us about them.

What stories do they tell?

What secrets do they hold?

We asked this first question as part of our collective art project at ArtsWalk, and I found the results so moving.