#creative kid

My daughter made this. This is an old photo but looking at it still makes me proud. The other photo I have is of her sitting on it, almost ready to roast a marshmallow.

She decided she wanted to learn how to & actually use wood tools. Her own wood tools. She found the raw materials. (Dad may have made some suggestions) She chose an executable design. She decided on final layout. I helped a bit.

She was proud of her stool. I’m proud of her.

I hope she still has it.

My mum was the head of the art department at a Grammar school, and a single parent. She had to go into school on weekends every now and then and since there was no one else to look after me, I had to come with her.

As a result I spent hours on my own in here

This was my mum's class room and it was a paradise for a creative kid. It was filled with almost every way to create art you could imagine.

And my mum was always finding new and interesting things for her students to draw/paint in still life. So as a result it was filled with this eclectic bounty of weirdness.

There was always inspiration. Shelves of art books and her students' work all around you. It was a real creative playground.

And it was an absolute mess and I am so grateful for that. It was full of character. It turned a few hours alone into an exploration of a strange place. I will always advocate having some mess in your life.