It's ten days since I had an operation and I'm eager to get back into creative mode, and to encourage others to explore their own creativity, but I'm still feeling sleepy after lunch and having to have a lie down, so feel as if I'm not achieving very much...
But I DID do a collage today - so now I have a beautiful big patchwork of images posted on my office wall - a silver pan of poaching plums, a hare standing in a meadow, a woman poised over an old-fashioned black type-writer - she clearly intends to give that keyboard some welly quite soon! (And although I don't work on a typewriter, I do intend to connect with my laptop keys soon.)
The collage has made me feel creative. I usually do them twice a year. Looking back at Autumn 2006, I can see that many of the images pictured there have now come into my life - writing, funky, original fashions.
So gather together a selection of magazines and cut out anything that appeals to you - shabby chic furniture, Mulberry handbags, Sloe gin, Penguin book covers, beaches, forests, swimming, running and rip away.
Then take a double spread sheet from a broadsheet newspaper and begin to arrange your images. Cut them into interesting shapes and over layer them in parts. Attach to the newspaper with sticky tape or staples. You should have something pleasing to the eye and which is also potentially aspirational.
Reflect upon what the images tell you. Should you be eating better? Taking a moment to connect with nature? Exercising more regularly?
My current choice of poaching plums and healthy food indicates that I want a good diet. There are also two beds and one huge chair in there - which I take to mean 'rest', which I guess you need after an operation, but the woman with the typewriter shows me that I must look to begin writing, even if it's just stirring the pot of ideas.
So enjoy your collage - you could also try one for story ideas.....