My April

I've had a busy month. I started my new job towards the end of March, and spent the month learning everything and settling in. The typical dangers of working in an office also cropped up -- I developed a cold just before my birthday which continued for a couple of weeks. The weather also turned very cold quite suddenly. All of that meant I wasn't really in the mood to create much. Things improved a bit towards the end of the month, though.

What I've been working on ...
This month I joined the Creative Dream Circle. I had been thinking about it for at least a year, but lately I've increasingly felt I needed help in being motivated and inspired to create. Since the exhibition back in January, I haven't spent any time creating art at all, and very little doing crafts. I knew there was something holding me back, and it was starting to weigh on me more heavily. Since joining about 3 weeks ago, while I haven't created anything major, I can feel something changing. I'm becoming more open to possibilities. I've only just scratched the surface of what's on offer in the Circle, so it will be interesting to see what happens in the near future.

I actually made a mistake when writing in the festival dates:
the Marimo Festival begins on the 8th of October!
What I've been drawing ...
Once I settled in at work, I started to spend my lunchtimes doing more creative things: going for walks in the park and taking photos, and drawing in my sketchbook either in the park on sunny days, or at my desk on rainy days.

What I've been reading ...
Having bought myself a Harry Potter boxed set for Christmas, I started reading the series this month. It felt wrong to start reading it in Summer, so I waited until the weather was cooler. It's just so more enjoyable with a blanket and a cup of tea! So far I've just finished Prisoner of Azkaban. I considered writing a series of blog posts with my thoughts and observations on my second reading of the books, but I realised that my first reading was so long ago that I don't really remember enough to compare. I found myself comparing to the movies, which I re-watched in Winter (August-September) last year. One thing I do remember, was that the movies started to diverge from the books a lot more starting from Prisoner of Azkaban (or at least had more simplified plots). I'm looking forward to revisiting the 'full' version of the story as the books unfold.

Selections from Instagram
I spent a lot of time in the park this month!