"Hope is the thing that sings" Limited edition print

I wanted to capture the bracing energy of a cold autumnal morning, and the sheer joy of starlings’ murmurations, that cannot help but uplift a soul. The child is facing the oncoming winter with courage and trust in herself, and with an open heart and open throat, sings her love for the world as she flies…

The poem by Emily Dickinson inspired the title of this painting, the first verse goes,

”Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,”

Singing has become such an important activity for me in the last few years. I’ve always loved to sing, going back to Sunday school as a small child, singing carols in church with my family at the midnight mass on Christmas Eve, hymns in chapel and being in the choir at school, to singing to my babies at bedtime, singing with my husband at our wedding and joyfully harmonising with my sisters (both blood and soul sisters). But it’s only in fairly recent times that I (a) started to really appreciate the mental and physical health benefits of singing, and (b) began to have a little more confidence in my own voice. 

I feel that to sing - just as to create art, or poetry, or music, to tell stories, bake cakes or grow plants - is an act of hope and resistance in a time of fear and pessimism. Raising our voices, lifting our spirits, harmonising with friends or strangers in song, soothes our bodies and minds and souls, and resonates out into the world, affecting our immediate surroundings as well as our internal structures. Many people believe that singing to their plants helps them grow, and on doubt there is some scientific evidence now that supports this belief. Animals enjoy music too. Wolves gather to sing together, whales sing to mourn the loss of a loved one as well as to attract a mate, and of course birdsong is astoundingly elaborate and varied. I often play my fiddle in my kitchen with the door open to my garden and I swear some of the birds like to stop and listen, and even sing along. Birds sing when they feel safe (their warning calls are different) - the sound of birdsong is inherently soothing as we instinctively associate it with feelings of safety in our environment.