The creative endeavours i've enjoyed throughout my life - written by Charlotte from CLT_Abstracts
I was thinking the other day about how to keep the little kid version of me alive, as a way to inspire creativity and feel excited about life. The things i enjoyed when i was younger were as follows:
Walking along paths with the Brownies and collecting coloured ribbons from the hedgerows and gateways with a sense of competition.
Inspecting the hedges for bugs like ladybirds, dragonflies, butterflies and beetles and getting spooked by a spider i didnt see to start with.
Collecting shells, fossils and pebbles on a family beach day and running along the sand to the rockpools. My brother would have a net and show me a crab he had found or some other creature that was hiding in a nook somewhere. He was good at spotting things and i liked learning about what the creature's habits were.
Going sunbathing and bodyboarding with my bestie before her leukaemia diagnosis. We would chat about all sorts and take a bag of fun things to enjoy on the beach. This would include anything from crafts, books, snacks, games, music and toys.
Walking around my Grandma's garden which was full of specially named roses, bought for her by my Grandpa on their anniversaries and birthdays.
Going for walks with my mum and picking wild flowers to take home.
Learning how to embroider a personalised bookmark, that i used in my favourite book 'Matilda', which i took everywhere!
Reading everything from fables and fantasy stories to encylopedias/random fact books and yes even the english, french and german dictionaries and thesaurus!
Writing poetry to explore justice fights, the natural landscape and to process life experiences.
Singing and writing songs in the school music rooms during lunchbreak, so i could avoid bullies and feel a sense of achievement and progress which made me happy.
Reading girly magazines in the 90s like Mizz and Sugar which inspired outfits, music choices and usually came with a new lipgloss to try or something equally as exciting for a young girl wanting to be older!
Playing games like Lemmings, Sonic, Duck shoot and a space rocket racing game which i cannot remember the name of at all - But it was really fun!
Watching cartoons like Wacky Races whilst scoffing cereal on the floor really close to the tv and feeling completely immersed in the show. It made me laugh so much.
Choosing wildflowers to put in my flowerpress and seeing how the transform into flattened and dried out versions. It felt like an experiment because it was trial and error to get the moisture absorption right and the timing before the flowers just went mouldy instead. If you tried to reveal them too soon by peeling off the layers of paper or card, the flowers could fall apart if still not dried out.
I constantly wanted to dance to music i heard and would sing along too. I joined dance workshops at school and loved it. I also met up with some girls from school who wanted to recreate dance routines of bands like the Spice Girls. We all fought over who would be which Spice Girl character.
I made dens with my brother or the neighbours out of sofa cushions and blankets. It felt like a safe space although the novelty wore off by the time i'd created the den. Sometimes though, we would make them outside and they became a base where we would meet up or always go to with a ghettoblaster or our bikes.
I'd sit at my dressing table and put make up on pretending i was some kind of iconic Hollywood star or something. I was such a dreamer! The only way i knew how to put make up on was to have the standard blue eyeshadow and pearl pink lipstick. It didn't look good at all haha!
Redecorating my bedroom with a theme such as dolphin everything! It was very OTT and kitsch. I loved sensory lighting, collecting figurines, band posters blu tac'd on the wall and having a place for everything. It was organised chaos which later became my band name :D
What are your favourite childhood memories that inspired creativity? Drop me a comment. I wonder how many we have in common?!
