Renaissance’s Annie Haslam – HuffPost 9.19.12
Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for new artists?
Annie Haslam: What I do is I just sit down and I don’t ask anymore. Originally, I did say, “I need some help,” because I absolutely, totally believed that we’re surrounded by spirit angels and all we have to do is ask for help and it comes. It might not come in the way you think, and I asked for help when I started painting and just to relax and let it pour through you, rather than to think, “I’ve got to paint this, I’ve got to paint that, and I’ve got to paint in this style and that style,” but just ask for it to come and flow through and if you really believe it, it’ll come through. That’s what happens with me. It pours through. It’s not preconceived unless it’s a commission, and then all I do is tune into that person or that pet that I’ll be painting. Otherwise, I just sit and choose colors and just pour it out and I don’t see what it is until it’s finished.
MR: Nice. And the same thing applies for music, right?
AH: Yes, for singing. I don’t really practice. I’m awful, really. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that I’m painting up until when I’m going to be doing a tour. It’s difficult for me to concentrate on painting for a week and then do something with singing at the same time. I’ve noticed that is difficult. That is another part of my brain or my psyche. I start rehearsing maybe a week before we go to rehearsals and my voice seems to just build up and it’s strong enough to tour and it stays there the whole tour. With recording, it’s really kind of odd. It’s a state of mind and just kind of plugging into something, I don’t know what it is.
MR: Now, if you had advice for new musical artists, would it be the same kind of line of thinking? “Just allow it to flow out?”
AH: I absolutely believe just to be calm and to ask for help when you’re writing words or anything like that, same thing. Just to let it come, rather than think, “I’ve got to write this about this or that,” or whatever. Somebody suggests, “I would like it to be about this,” well you can think about that, but put it in the back of your mind and try and absorb it. I don’t meditate, per se, but I think I meditate when I’m painting and I think I meditate when I’m singing. It’s just tuning in. I’m a firm believer that we’re surrounded by incredible energy and incredible things and all we have to do is ask and look around and be a good person. I think if you give out good stuff, good thoughts, smile at everybody as you pass them in the street, good things are going to come to you. My father was like that and it’s true. You just have to spread as much good stuff as you can, all the time, every day.