Put Your Records On!

and Find Your Creative Voice.

Dear friends,

This one a is a bit more ‘news-y’ that my usual emails and I’m not going to ‘bury the lead’, so let me start with this rather exciting announcement. Corinne Bailey Rae, one of the most exciting recording artists of the century, has written a book called ‘Put Your Records On’, based on her most iconic song… and I’m the illustrator! The project was just announced on AP and ABC News today and you can hear her talking about it a little by clicking this video below.

I’m still not even sure how to quantify my excitement about working with an artist I’ve admired for 20 years or more, so I’ll save it for the March release date and let Corinne do the talking. It’s such an honour to be involved!

corinnebaileyrae

A post shared by @corinnebaileyrae

By the way, I’ve been dropping ‘easter eggs’ like Taylor Swift all year since I went to meet Corinne last summer. The shimmering jacket worn on the book cover by Portia is based on one that Corinne herself glides onto the stage wearing at the start of her gigs. Corinne’s highly evolved fashion taste made this a visual delight to work on.

Here’s the pre-order info: www.corinnebaileyrae.com

SONGS FROM THE WILD

‘Bringing the music back’ appears to be the theme of life right now, which is a secret wish I’d been harbouring for a while that is now bursting into technicolour.

Last year, in the midst of burnout, an amazing opportunity landed in my lap (thanks to Karine) to provide art for the cover of ‘Looking for the Thread’ by mega-stars Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart (you can read more here). It was such a simple and beautiful experience at a moment when I needed the encouragement the most and I’ll never forget it.

A rather pleasant side effect too was the way it led me to meet new people unexpectedly. One such person was Scottish singer-songwriter, storyteller and poet, Sandy Kilpatrick, who has been making music for 30 years in both the UK and also Portugal, where he and his wife Tess nurture the most beautifully lush farm you’ve ever seen.

Sandy came looking for me after seeing that album cover and we instantly got along; because of shared roots and artistic tastes but also a shared desire to do something meaningful that involves caring for others and offering respite and connection in an increasingly bewildering world. We spoke a lot about wanting to be ‘in the room’ with others a whole lot more.

I went along to one of his concerts, then he came to my community house here in County Durham to help host a free spring retreat for tired community workers. I also recently went to visit the whole family in Northern Portugal and, after a lot of dreaming and singing, we came up with the idea for ‘Songs from the Wild’, an inviting concept which will be focused on in-person retreats and respite, helping people find their creative voice while communing with nature and with one another.

We’re going to host a few luxurious and beautiful retreats for small groups of ten participants, as well as some one-day gatherings (many of which will be free, to create a balance of sustainability and accessibility). The first of these will be themed around the ‘Hunter’s Moon’, inspired by a new song of Sandy’s, and will focus on offering people a variety of creative ways to help uncover what they might be looking for in the next part of their lives; exploring song-writing, visual art, photography, painting, creative writing, movement and plenty of rest, beautiful food and time in nature. There are no professional level requirements for this, it will be incredibly welcoming and non-judgemental, and the dates to save are 6th-12th October, meeting in Porto before we head into the wild together. The venue is the gorgeous eco-farm resort, Quinta Do Rapozinho, in northern Portugal. More comprehensive information will be published soon but, if you fancy the sound of it, you can also just reply to this email to be on the contact list. (And if you can’t make it, there will be a Scotland one in May 2026!)

I’ll pop a few photos below from the lovely day we had at my community home, and a few photos from Portugal to inspire you, plus some recent illustrations of musicians friends! I’d like there be a lot more music in my working life again, so this is me drawing that into life with my magic crayons.

Back the work I go- I have many more reflective things to say about respite, retreat and sanctuary, but I’ll save it for a quiet Sunday!

Love, Gill xo

‘Songs from the Wild’ day retreat for community workers in County Durham

Some photos of the retreat venue for October at Quinta Do Rapozinho, Northern Portugal

Spending some time with the brilliant musicians and sound engineers from 'The Village' recording studio in Vila Nova de Famalicão. More on that later :)

And just for fun…

Some doodles from the last few months of musicians or on the theme of music. While re-discovering singing and song-writing, I painted this in my weird little sketchbook to capture the moment I felt the warmth of sound locating itself once again near my heart, like a home-coming. I’ve done a lot of voice-finding experiments in the last 6 months to be able to support others during retreats with their own journeys.

And some paintings of musician friends; Julie Fowlis, Su-a Lee and Ellie Holcomb respectively, all women I feel so privileged to know and be alive at the same time as they are making their art. If my future could involve working closely with gifted musicians, that would be a pretty perfect life.