darren r hill

the creative minimalist

  • A new creative prompt on hope to give me a little focus and you a little challenge, or should that be the other way round.

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  • A Fiction Writing Prompt exploring the topic of light. The aim to stretch your literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore. Light is the topic for this prompt.

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  • Inspired by my weekly creative prompt word, light, I took these pictures the other day. Nothing like a good light reflection to reflect upon.

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  • I want to make 2021 the most creative year of my life. My word for the year, if you’ve watched my vlog is ‘connect’ and the first step in many of my goals and dreams for the year is to create. Now 2020 has been difficult for us all in many ways. For me, I…

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  • I created a vision journal for 2021. It also includes my One Word for the year. In the video, I show you how I made it, the process for creating the content on each page and how it all ties into my One Word for the year.

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  • A Fiction Writing Prompt to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore. I opened the letter and read. I had to be careful not to smudge the words, as tears of joy rolled down my cheeks Writing prompt Expanded Some things make us so happy that our emotions overflow.…

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  • Lockdown Beltane Mixtape

    I made a mixtape of songs that have been bouncing between my ears recently. They all have a vague link, in my head, with the current lockdown and Beltane, which has just passed. It’s just under 40 minutes long, so if you want to have a musical meander for a bit, scroll down.

    The mixtape starts with wanting to be somewhere else and in love, onto trying to sort out life, via a dose of immortality and then getting a bit hippie and new age with Marc Bolan. To balance things out, for those who are not new age, it ends with a little witch burning. I like to please everyone. (Actually, please don’t burn witches, it’s not big or clever. Don’t bow to Hansel and Gretel’s peer pressure.*)

    *Actually, Gretel pushed the old woman into an oven so technically it wasn’t a witch-burning as such. However, unless someone came and let the old lady out she would have burnt like anything left in an oven for too long.

    Apart from that, and just like a FaceBook meme, I’m not going to say anything about the individual tracks. They are simply tracks that are hanging out with me at the current moment.

    You can listen to the Lockdown Beltane Mixtape on

    Apple Music

    or Spotify

    Or watch the individual videos of the tracks below…

    Heavenly

    Cigarettes After Sex

    https://youtu.be/6LmzF7-8flk

    Congregation

    Low

    Or a version using footage from Devs

    Fixture Picture

    Aldous Harding

    Diary

    Weyes Blood

    Exhibition

    Gary Numan

    Immortals

    Jean-Michel Jarre & F&%k Buttons

    Ride a White Swan

    T. Rex

    Burn the Witch

    Radiohead

    I hope you enjoyed the Lockdown Beltane Mixtape, and remember mixtapes are not just for lockdown but for the whole year x

    Original tape image by Bruno /Germany from Pixabay

    Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
    namaste
    d
    xox

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

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  • Proto music

    I have moments of lucidity. These moments concern all sorts of things. I once had one such moment concerning this blog. In it, I thought of writing posts that related to the day. Saturday could be about stationery, Sunday spirituality and so on. Monday was to be about music.

    Lucidity doesn’t last for long. Plans for this blog don’t tend to last long either. However, I find myself here on a Monday about to talk about music. In particular, some music that I have written and have recorded.

    This afternoon I have been mixing and putting some final touches to three new pieces. They will be part of an EP that I’ll soon be sharing. All three tracks are inspired and influenced by three artists who I loved as a young teen… and still enjoy listening to today. John Foxx, Thomas Dolby and Gary Numan are the inspiration. Originally I had planned to record a collection of ten or more tracks. However, that moment of lucidity disappeared as well.

    The EP will be called Protomatic Renaissance and all being well will be on all the major streaming platforms. I’ll let you have a sneak peek, or listen, in the next few days but didn’t want to miss the opportunity of actually sharing something on Music Monday.

    As long as my lucid moments continue I’ll be sharing what I am creating here with a little more regularity than I have been. But that’s the problem with lucidity, it comes and goes… just like the creative muse.

    Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
    namaste
    d
    xox

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

    Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest

  • Hello, my name is Darren

    Welcome to my website. I am Darren, the creative minimalist. I have archived the previous iteration of this site.

    Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
    namaste
    d
    xox

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

    Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest