Back to school

Photo 26September is always busy for those of us with anything to do with school. I'm feeling really good about work at the moment, not something I normally talk about here.

I've been trying to clear the decks at home, finishing projects, decluttering nooks and crannies, revitalising my studio and getting prepared and open for whatever's next.

After the amount of work for my art foundation course last year, I've been particularly keen to keep the creativity flowing. It's so easy for such a fragile, ephemeral entity to be squashed by academia. Sometimes it juices you up and sometimes it dries you up - I'm trying to learn how different situations affect me and ride the waves instead of floundering.

The internet is such a gift for the isolated and the introverted. I've been playing over at The Land of Lost Luggage, making gorgeous rich journals, and now we're starting to fill them up. I'm also looking forward to some photography and reflection on Unravelling in a couple of weeks. 

I'm also getting out there and meeting new people. I really crave a creative community, made up of friends from my life, online friends and all the busy little corners of London where people are already meeting to draw, knit, create and connect. 

All that and a little bit of knitting. This is a practice hat, because the postal strike has eaten my wool for the real version. I like it though! What are you working on?

A little later, I've been very excited about the launch of ella publishing - small business, great design, green premise, inspirational eye candy, what's not to love? Click on the button to read more about it

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GPP Street Team: Crusade No. 33

Michelle Ward has a new crusade up for September. If you haven't seen these before, take some time to look back through them, she has some great ideas and really gets people motivated. This month the theme is 'back to school' - thinking about the learning we do in and out of the studio.

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I am most surprised that I learned a little bit of Mandarin. I took a class last spring to prepare for my trip to Beijing in May 2008. It was so gratifying to be able to speak a little bit of Mandarin, and the effort seemed to be appreciated. The best moment was when I was able to speak to a Chinese painting teacher after a lesson and thank him for his work, while many people only thanked the translator!

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A Lovely Way to Start the Day

So, I'm getting a cold, and I'm really annoyed about it, because we've just starting refining our diet and we've been eating really well, so this feels like a kick in the pants, you know?

It's back to work and work is good, but still, early mornings are tough, and those ingrained routines are hard to dig up at the end of summer.

So I'm awake early, but drinking tea and feeling sorry for myself and I see this on Twitter:

Tweet lovely

 Which leads me to the website (click on the umbrella to see for yourself):

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Which leads me to the first video, which asks you to pause and watch the second video at one point. 

The second video is below, having two videos in the same post wasn't working well.

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