Living the Creative Life

Living the Creative Life by Rice Freeman-Zachary

I found this book by a very roundabout route. Rice, the woman who wrote it, has a few films on Youtube and one that I watched was of her demonstrating needle felting, and she was such an engaging person to watch, kind of spontaneous, that I liked her right away. From there I linked back to her blog and so to her books. I don't think this was the one I was particularly interested in but it was the one that the library had so I ordered it.

Now I don't really aspire to being an artist, and in a way the book is pitched at people who are, or want to be, full time artists, though you can tell by this blog that I do want to find creative outlets. It's all about creativity and talking to different artists about what inspires them and how they work and how it fits in with their life and all sorts of stuff like that. I wasn't really taken with any of the art work in the book, just not my taste at all but what struck a chord with me is the fact that when you feel dissatisfied with your life and want to make changes it is very inspirational to read people talking about living in a way that is fulfilling. It is about taking chances, leaving behind the security of paid employment for something more vital. The artists in the book live to work, and do so with passion and energy. To quote John Holt, it is about finding "a life worth living and work worth doing". I keep feeling that there should be more to life. I walk around at work thinking of all the things I would rather be doing. I have been living a very safe existence for a few years now and recently the need to change it has become more preoccupying.

Family changes are afoot, the girls are going to be heading in new directions in the next few months, and I am feeling as if the world could be my oyster (not a very appropriate expression since Tish and I were laid up with food poisoning when we had oysters). I am anxious of letting go of all that I have worked at but maybe it is time to take a risk?