Early Spring Reflections by the Fire
Early spring in Tasmania is a curious thing. The mornings and evenings are still cool enough to need a fire, but the air carries a soft promise – that whisper of new growth and greening light. I often curl up in my armchair, woollen blanket over my knees and a mug of hot chocolate within reach.
It was in this quiet ritual that I began reading Conscious Creativity: Look, Connect, Create by Philippa Stanton – a required text for my university course, though it quickly became far more than an academic exercise.
“It’s about reconnecting with the inquisitiveness, observation and instinct found in infancy, which we often lose sight of as we become adults.” Philippa Stanton
Her words felt like an invitation to wake up – to see the familiar anew, to soften into the sensory world around me.
Rediscovering the Art of Looking
As a casual photographer, I’ve always been drawn to light and shadow, but Stanton reminded me that creative seeing begins not with doing but with being present.
She writes:
“Creativity is not about being good at something, but about being awake to the world.”
That line struck me deeply. My camera work had become efficient rather than conscious – more about capturing an image than experiencing it. Stanton’s exercises encouraged me to slow down, to “look at what is around you, not for what it is, but for what it could be.”
That evening, the fire crackled softly while I watched the light shift across the floorboards. The handle of my mug curved like a crescent moon, and even the faint smoke rising from the hearth seemed to draw stories in the air.
Light, Shadow, and the Spaces Between
In the chapter Light and Shadow, Stanton writes:
“It is always darkness that proves the light.”
That truth resonated through my photography practice. I’ve long chased golden-hour glow and the shimmer of dawn, yet I rarely paid attention to shadow itself. Reading Conscious Creativity reframed that understanding – shadow isn’t absence, it’s conversation. It defines, reveals, and gives shape to what light alone cannot describe.
One evening, I set my camera near the fireplace and began photographing the shadows themselves – their soft edges curling over the timber. For the first time, I wasn’t chasing light; I was listening to it through its counterpart.
“When you pay attention to the subtle, you make the ordinary extraordinary.” Philippa Stanton
Creativity as Connection
Over the weeks that followed, Conscious Creativity travelled with me. Stanton encourages readers to “collect the overlooked,” and I began photographing again not as a task, but as a conversation with place.
The way light spilled across dew on the grass.
The hush of early morning fog.
The shimmer of a gum leaf turning in the breeze.
Each became part of a daily act of noticing. Creativity, I realised, isn’t a pursuit – it’s a practice of belonging.
“Don’t be afraid to not know, because not knowing is where ideas are born.” Philippa Stanton
In my creative journal, I wrote:
“Light finds shape. Shadow gives it meaning.”
That phrase became a quiet mantra – a reminder that creativity, like the seasons, moves in cycles of brightness and rest, clarity and uncertainty.
From Study to Practice
What began as a university reading became a personal manifesto. Stanton’s book guided me back to my own rhythm – to create from awareness rather than urgency, and to treat the world around me as both teacher and collaborator.
By the time I finished the book, the fire had burned low. Outside, spring stars shimmered above the eucalypts. I felt grounded again – reminded that the act of seeing consciously isn’t something you learn once; it’s something you return to, moment by moment.
“When you engage with the world around you consciously, it rewards you with inspiration.” Philippa Stanton
Now, whenever I lift my camera, I try to listen to the light. To let the quiet, overlooked details of Tasmanian life – frost, bark, reflection, breath – guide me toward a deeper kind of creativity.
Book Details
Author: Philippa Stanton
Title: Conscious Creativity: Look, Connect, Create
Publisher: Leaping Hare Press / Ivy Press (Quarto Publishing PLC)
Publication Date: 28 November 2018
ISBN: 978-1782406341
Length: 160 pages
Where to Buy in Australia
- Booktopia – Conscious Creativity
- Readings – Conscious Creativity
- Angus & Robertson – Conscious Creativity
- Amazon Australia – Conscious Creativity
Caroline
Editor & Maker, Tasmanian Maker’s Journal