Day 363: A view to...anywhere

This is the sight out my window this morning. Pretty dull. It's raining and it's wet. There was some kind of commotion a minute ago with reversing cars and horns. That's about as exciting as it gets. Sometimes there's people walking past on there way to the park, but not on a day like today.

Wouldn't it be cool if every time you opened your curtains there was a different scene there. One day it could be a city-scape in lights, the next it could be misty mountains. Maybe you would see a volcano explode one morning. That would wake you up! Or you could be next you a raging river or the savannah in Africa. A giraffe could meet you on that morning!

It would certainly beat my window scene.

What would you want to see out of your window? Take your imagination on holiday with this one...

Day 157: Reminiscing with Helen Cross

Today I went into the little primary school in Saltford as I always do, but this morning, Helen Cross came with us. She got the class thinking about what they would miss if they left home for a holiday or wherever. We looked at a poem by Grace Nichols called, Like a Beacon, where she misses her mum's home cooking from Jamaica.

It was all very pleasant until I thought, hang on, I'm away from home right now! Uni is one of those strange times in your life when you have two homes, but neither of them feel quite right. When I'm home with my family I miss my home at uni and vise versa.

So, as I'm at Uni, I was thinking about my family home five hours away and this came out of it:

Opening the fridge and picking at fresh grapes,
five varieties of cheese, crisp cucumber,
red peppers and thick yogurt.
Bracken and Bramble sleeping, stretched out lazily
on the most comfortable sofa imaginable,
or curled up by the hissing fire.
Being surrounded by my dad's teddy-bear hugs.

Kind of a poem, I guess. What would you miss? I don't know about you, but thinking about it makes me really want to be there. All that feeling and emotion...

Try writing a list of what you'd miss and put those ideas, feelings, senses into your creative work somehow, whether it be writing, painting, animation, music, dance, drama...Using what we know from our own lives touches other people's lives and that's the power of creativity.

Work with what you got and see how far it reaches...

Day 35: Creative cultures

It's summer time now and I recon quite a few people will be going off on holiday to hot (and cold) places all over the world for a break.

I've been wondering about other countries and cultures recently. Is creativity used differently in different places? Does it have different values in different cultures? Are different activities and pursuits seen as creative compared to English ones?

Things like beauty are definitely interpreted differently in different cultures, so I'm pretty sure creativity would be 'graded' differently too.

Take India for example. Colours are vibrant all over India. Their clothes, temples and spices are all bright. Weddings and funerals are full of colour and music, nothing like the traditional English ones. Music is different, films are different, art is different. In fact there is very little about India that could be regarded remotely similar to English culture.

So, what am I getting at? I'm encouraging you to look and listen when you are away this summer, wherever it is. Even if it's still in England, local culture still changes. India is of course an extreme example, but wherever you go, have a look for me. How do they regard creativity? Is is important? Is it public? Which senses does it engage with? But don't just look, take it in, process it and use it...(take your notebook!)

What will you find this summer to inspire you...?