Inspiration is very elusive, even for people who are supposed to be creative (though I believe that all of us are creative in one way or another – it’s a human thing). If creativity is about making ideas visible or audible, then most of the time those ideas are hiding in the back of your continue reading »
There’s been a heatwave in June for most of the UK, apparently. I like a heatwave, working in my shady studio during the day and savouring the warm evenings, the pleasure of eating supper outdoors, being able to wear light and floaty clothes. Ah, the joy of finally taking socks off, hello toes! But I continue reading »
When writing this last week I was somewhere in the North Sea, which was its usual shade of sullen grey. White flecks on the waves told me that it was windy and cold out there, but I was warm and comfortable in the drawing room of Cunard’s Queen Anne. I don’t make a habit of continue reading »
Almost two years ago I was standing on our station platform, nervous and masked, heading for eight days quarantine in Yorkshire before starting on my five week artist’s residency on board HMS Protector in Antarctica. Now finally my book ‘Antarctic Sketchbook’ has arrived, and it brings back all those vivid memories. The day after the continue reading »
During lockdown I re-read Elizabeth Gilbert’s ‘Big Magic’, one of my favourite books about creativity. It debunks the myth of the creative person as aloof and special, striving for perfection, and encourages an altogether more joyful and practical approach to the process of making and doing. Her phrase ‘living a life based on curiosity rather continue reading »