Busy, busy being creative..!

Monday, 13 February 2017

[UK Islands Project] Portland in Pictures

Feels like I only just scratched the surface of Portland when we visited last weekend (no pun intended, what with all the quarrying that took place here!) It was so much bigger than I expected. 

On the Friday when we arrived the rain was hitting hard and the wind was up. The weather report had promised sunshine on Saturday so keeping that positive thought in mind we arrived at the Portland Bird Observatory where we were spending the weekend with a feeling of excitement. (I think me more than Mr CA as he was still a bit poorly from having the flu. I thought a bit of fresh air & adventuring would do him good though...;-)

I'm still crafting my copy about this island experience and will write about the different discoveries and inspirations of this island (there are quite a few!), so whilst I'm finishing that, I thought I'd share some photos from the 'Isle of Slingers'...


Pulpit Rock



Walking around the coastal path. Breathtaking views (around the edges, all built up in the middle it seems) plus lots of kestrel sightings.

Quarry markings. I didn't manage to find Wren's hourglass this time..

St George's Reforne. A fascinating church - I could see this being a great film set!















See. It is an Island!
The Olympic Rings and view of Chesil Beach behind.



Sunday, 12 February 2017

Making Things Smaller (And More Do-Able)

Tout Quarry Sculpture Park & Nature Reserve, Isle of Portland

























Last weekend I visited my first Island as a part of my UK islands Project. Hurrah! I’ll be writing about that adventure in another post, as this post is about the fact that I’ve realised I need to make this project even smaller in order to keep it fun, creative and do-able!

Let me explain.

I love research. I love finding out quirky and interesting facts but I also get stuck and can spend hours and hours in the research stage and then not long enough in the creating stage (are you like this?) I jotted in my notebook today that 'I'm spending more time planning and researching the islands I’m visiting than I’ll actually get to spend on them!' Which is kind of inevitable really. Thing is this leads to frustration on my part and wishes of ‘I wish I could live on each island for a month’ which as I’ve said before isn't feasible this year.

So what do I do?

Well, I’ve been thinking about that this weekend and having one Island visit under my belt and knowing that I’m only really able to scratch the surface with these snapshot visits I’m going to pare down my research to match (this will be a challenge!!) That’s the bit I’m making smaller. Otherwise I run the risk of having mountains of research but not really creating anything myself, which wasn't the plan. Now that I’ve noticed this and decided what to do I feel much calmer and more focused again. *Phew*

How about you?

Do you need to take some time out and reassess where you are at the moment? Is everything feeling too big and needs some thought about how you can make it smaller – and more do-able?
Let me know if I can help
Happy 'making things smaller and more do-able-ing'!

Morwhenna
xx