My starting points

Walking and thinking

I went to a talk by Irvine Welsh (author of Trainspotting and other things) last Monday night and was struck by one comment in particular. He remarked that if you haven’t grown up in a family which is creative then it can take a long time to own your creativity. This made me reflect on my own experience. I know how to cook, sew and knit because my mother taught me. When I was a teenager I enjoyed choosing recipes, shopping for ingredients, spending all afternoon in the kitchen, with the radio turned up loud, cooking up a storm. Equally I loved skimming through patterns, gazing at the colors and patterns of fabrics and reaching out to feel the texture of wool. It was a riot of possibilities. I made jumpers and dresses for me, clothes for my sisters’ Barbie dolls, fabric boxes to sell to the neighbours and bread, casseroles and desserts for my family. I remember being entranced in Home Economics class learning how to make fried rice including turning out a perfectly moulded mound onto a plate and garnishing it with a curled top of spring onions. If Instagram had existed then, a shot of this dish would certainly have made it onto my wall. I also flirted with patchwork, Florentine embroidery and friendship bracelets.

Color and movement

Creativity has always been a part of my life, although from time to time I do lose track of it, but then it sneaks back in again. I remember being asked by a colleague what I was passionate about and after some thought, answering “color and patterns”. Clearly I hadn’t paid enough attention to the context as he looked at me with some surprise. It was a bit of a clue to the fact that I wasn’t quite on the same page as everyone else there! 

Performance art with nieces

 
As an adult I had a long patch of knitting. When I was studying I would knit blankets for relief from having to think with my head all day. It kept my hands busy and I could see something real resulting from my work. I then moved onto baby knits as my sisters and close friends starting having families. This was followed by a picture framing phase where I covered nearly every wall in my then flat with my multi-colored efforts. It was an attempt to cheer up the cream rental walls. Most recently it has been the morning pages exercises (stream of consciousness writing by hand for three pages), the 365 day photography projects and the blog. So looking back over all these endeavours perhaps it is time to own that I am in fact quite creative.

Winter playground series

Recognising this is not too much of a shock, it is fairly clear. The bigger, more intimidating challenge is to work out what to do with it - is it just a hobby, an extra-curricula activity, something to do when I’m not busy, or is it something else? Once upon a time I had dreamed of going to fashion design college, but didn’t get much further than making a few inquiries. I stood on the sidelines as a friend pursued his photography course. I was always rather jealous when I met people who had seriously committed to studying and practising their art. I thought that after my year away that I was looking for a better balance in my regular life between work and creativity. Now I’m not so sure...

Walking and talking

I have recently been blue sky talking about my future with various friends and family. This ideal life involves having the freedom to write books and travel. I think perhaps what I’m now looking for is a way to transition to a creative life as a profession, not something I have dared dream of before. I realise it will take a while, years probably, but I like the idea of having a goal to stretch for and an interesting journey to go on to get there. I’ve taken what I think is a useful first step and put in an application to do a uni course on writing and editing. Fingers and toes are crossed that I will get in!