March Wanderings

Happy Almost-Spring, Adventurers!! 🌱

To celebrate the upcoming season, I'm releasing my 7th full length album, Songs of the Forest, on the equinox! Watching the seasons change in the woods behind my house is what inspires my music, so it seemed only fair to name the album after it. It features 13 of my spring and summer themed songs, from the dewy meadows of The Spring Faire to the mossy warmth of Forest Song to the tropical beach of Hidden Lagoon!

In other news, I've just finished writing a brand new song called Crystal Cave...

Journey with me into the depths of the earth, lit only by crystals that glow with a mysterious luminance! Then pause and hark to the song the ancient stones sing in their rumbling voices.

Crystal Cave's sound is full of glittering mallets and bells, the tapping of pickaxes echoing in the deep, and dark bass piano. I did my best to represent both the heavy might of the earth and stones and the light, delicate beauty of the glowing crystals. It's almost like a sister song to Beneath the Earth, the song I wrote about the dwarven kingdom of my fantasy world. 💎

The art for Crystal Cave was also very fun to create! I hadn't painted crystal clusters in this style before so it was a good challenge. Plus, I got to use two of my favorite painting techniques! The first is salt crystals, which I used to create that snowflake like texture in the background. When you sprinkle table salt over wet paint, it absorbs the water which pushes the pigment to create a crystalline effect. The second trick is pressing a crumpled up tissue onto the wet paint of the rocks; it removes some of the paint strategically to create a roughened look.

I hope this behind the scenes look at the painting process was interesting to you and you enjoy the music! 🎵

Until next time, stay magical!

June 💜