top of page

Vivi Bayliss

Blog

On the left hand side of the stage, there is a piano covered in bunting and a woman playing it. In the middle, there are chairs with quilted blankets on them. On the right hand side, there is a woman dressed in blue looking away. The rest of the room is in darkness.

Always An Artist - Week 46

We did the show!

Brightly coloured spines of the books in the ACOTAR series, surrounded by neutral props: coffee pot, mug, book and scarf.

Always An Artist - Week 45

How could I make a show about books in the 2020s without ACOTAR?

A foggy morning with some glimpses of pale blue light amongst the dark trees. A figure stands by a tree on the right.

Always An Artist - Week 44

Big revisions are part of the process

An open suitcase, filled with books and quilted blankets spilling out over the sides. The colours are gentle and warm

Always An Artist - Week 43

I'm still going!

A rehearsal room with cream walls and light brown wooden flooring. In the foreground is white sheet music titled "Oh Stevie, Why Am I Doing This?" in the blurry background, you can see a person on a chair wearing light blue dungarees.

Faded Glamour

A song cycle

Stacks of old, well-loved books in muted shades fill the whole frame

Romantics in training

Show prep continues

A white hand reaching toward a sunlit gap between two walls.

Trust part 2

Another perspective wearing a different hat

A table in a cafe is in the foreground, with a cafetiere, mug and small plant on it. The background has large American loft style windows and more greenery and branches snaking in from the corners.

A change of pace and a change of scene

Keeping it short and sweet this week

Lots of books with colourful covers arranged in the shape of a heart. Resting on green grass.

How To Be A Romantic

Come and see the show!

A mood board of images, featuring big dark starry skies, colourful northern lights, rusting farm equipment, winter trees and wooden cabins

Director's Concept - Almost Maine

I'm really in love with this one

The canopy of a restaurant in Seoul, South Korea, with lots of cherry blossom hanging off it, showing lots of that perfect blush pink colour. The interior of the restaurant can be seen blurry in the background, in the bottom half of the image.

A convoluted but charming blog

Some holiday musings

An image of Aurora Borealis, or the Northern Lights. In the foreground, the tree line makes a sharp contrasting shadow against the brightness of the night sky. The sky is full of ribbons of colour in greens and purples that ripple in front of the stars.

Always An Artist - Week 34

Blue sky thinking, a pun

A black and white image of a rehearsal studio with 60s or 70s decor. There is parquet flooring and a piano in each corner. There are chairs and music stands lining the walls. There is plenty of space to move

Always An Artist - Week 33

Get in the room

A notebook is open to a page of writing, set on a wooden table. There is a fountain pen resting on the page on the right-hand side. The sun is shining so the image feels happy.

Always An Artist - Week 32

I was missing the old title

A view over Edinburgh city centre at golden hour, all the bricks are glowing. In the foreground is a monument, consisting of nine columns in a circle around an urn.

August is for fringes

I've returned from Edinburgh

A stage with old-fashioned clam shell footlights and a beautiful baroque backdrop, showing an image of pillars and curtains in lush red and gold colours. On the stage, there is a rug with some pillows artfully arranged upon it, and a stool on the left with a sword leaning against it.

Trust the process

And other things about trust

A girl in a yellow blouse with braided brunette hair on a purple background. She is throwing some blurry juggling balls in the air.

The Juggle

Going all in on the metaphor here

The beautifully ornate ceiling on Buxton Opera House. Lots of gold leaf on friezes covering the ceiling, as well as renaissance style paintings in the domed roof.

Better Together

Or the benefits of networking and community

Dappled sunshine falling on some (rather dry) grass. The laptop is open, black over-ear headphones lying next to it, and above them is a ring bound notebook which is open and in use.

I wish for more weeks like this

An update with a healthy dose of gratitude

A sunset. Pink clouds crossing throughout the image, with blue-grey sky behind at the top, and sandy sky behind at the bottom.

Always An Artist - Week 26

Halfway through the year

A group of people sat in the audience lit by an orange glow from the stage, all looking to the left of the image. They are excited and clapping along to the music. They are sat in a marquee with cream fabric walls, looking like there could be a wedding at any moment.

A Conference, a sit-in and a boogie!

It's been a whirlwind but in a good way.

Bright pink scissors on a neon blue background

Always An Artist - Week 24

Cutting it down

Several sheets of paper are spread out on a red bedsheet. Some papers are handwritten, and others are printed.

Always An Artist - Week 23

Putting pen to paper

A bedroom in a historic house. There are 500-year-old blue and green tapestries on the walls. The wooden bed frame is covered by pink blankets and white pillows. There is a bookcase by the left wall.

Always An Artist - Week 22

Big research week

A white man in his 20s singing and pointing to the left. He is in a black theatre with lights behind his head. He is wearing a black top and red plaid shirt.

Schrodinger's Cup

An analogy that will be explained

A mood board. Most of the images are in dark blues, greens or earth tones. They depict resistance fighters in World War Two, gritty civilian survivors, and ethereal ballerinas in ragged romantic tutus. There are navy blue text boxes featuring quotes of desperation and deep feeling.

Director's concept - Die Rheinnixen

The return of the mood board!

A recording studio. There's a keyboard in the foreground and some microphones in the middle of the room. All the decor is in warm, earthy brown and yellow tones. There is a window on the left wall into the mixing room.

Admiration

A very cool week

A field, with a mixture of brown earth and green grass as the crop grows. There is a good green tree line running across the centre of the image, and along the left-hand side where the boundaries of the field are. There is a blue sky above, with several large grey clouds, but it doesn't look like rain.

Always An Artist - Week 17

We're still going!

In the foreground, an iPad on a music stand. The front page on the iPad screen reads "Have You Met Stan? A New Musical." Blurry in the background are three people gathered round a bar having a discussion.

Have You Met Stan?

In rehearsals

In the foreground, a woman with a brunette bob faces away from the camera. She is wearing a black and white striped top and is hunched over writing in a notebook. She is in a grey and cream rehearsal studio. Blurry in the background is an actor dressed in black.

I almost forgot that this is the point

Forgive the title - I rarely hop on trends

A bed with grey sheets. On the duvet, there is a cream notebook, open to a page with writing, and some beige postcards.

A new show - the early stages

This isn't a blog about a consistent strategy - I don't have one

A paperback copy of the play, with "Much Ado About Nothing" written in white text. There is a dark-toned pre-Raphaelite painting of a woman on the cover. The background is light brown wood.

Director's Concept - Much Ado About Nothing

I will always be a Shakespeare girl

A mood board. The pictures are mostly in dark, woody tones, featuring lots of books and files. There are orangey-brown text boxes featuring quotes from the show.

Director's concept - Testament

Going into a bit more detail

An overhead shot of a desk. There is a silver laptop at the top, and a planning notebook in the middle, with colourful tabs. There is a hand coming into shot form the right, making notes on a pink post-it.

Why I have never ever saved myself time

Facilitation is so labour intensive

A screenshot of an audio editing program. Blue soundwaves on a grey background.

Always An Artist - Week 10

Double digits!

Vivi is dancing. She is lunging towards the camera with her head down, giving herself a hug. She's wearing a black leotard and blue floaty trousers. She is dancing in a shopping centre where the floor and walls are various shades of brown.

A DYCP and a Dance Performance

Lots of exciting things going on, even a change to the title!

A lightbulb sat on top of a pearl necklace. All resting on a beige work surface

Always An Artist - Week 8

I had a show this week!

A mood board with images from Covent Garden and street magicians. Pink text boxes with Shakespeare quotes.

Always An Artist - Week 7

A few tweaks to the programme

An evening shot of the building corner and restaurant umbrellas in Covent Garden. Everything has a blue0sh tinge, but there are little specks of light.

Always An Artist - Week 6

I really should come up with some other names for the blog updates

A golden sunset with dark blue clouds. The sky sits over a beautiful green valley surrounding a still, clear lake.

Always An Artist - Week 5

Some itemised thoughts

White silky fabric, photo by Susan Wilkinson (on Unsplash)

Always An Artist - Week 4

A full month of creative tasks

An image of a sunset. Dark blue at the top, pink clouds in the middle, and shades and orange and yellow where the sky meets the land, which is black and in silouhette.

Always An Artist - Week 3

It's not a mood board!

A mood board for a production of Traviata. There are blue text boxes containing quotes about misunderstanding, shattered illusions and not seeing things clearly. The images show large scale artworks with mirrors, people falling, the Louvre glass pyramid, prisms throwing colourful light, and breaking glass.

Always An Artist - Week 2

A few observations

The image is a mood board showing a concept for the opera Carmen. There are yellow text boxes with black writing, containing quotes about rebellious birds. There are images of peacocks, cages, tarot cards and metals in a colour palette of golds, blues and purples.

Always An Artist - Week 1

A reflection on the start of the journey

Placeholder Image

Always An Artist - launch

My 2025 challenge to myself

bottom of page