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Hi Reader,

How is your creativity faring today? Are the ideas a-bubbling or are you feeling a bit meh? It's ok if it's both! 🫣 Creative energy is always shifting, so cut yourself some slack when the levels are lower or more confuzzled.

I am currently pushing towards completing my next Skillshare class and I am deep in the editing stage. This is the stage where I start feeling two different ways about what I'm creating. The first is: I feel energised that I can finally see the seams of the class stitching together, and that it seems to be making some sense. I feel excited that I'm actually going to finish it! I feel nervous happiness in anticipation of sharing it with others and seeing what they think. The second is: I feel overwhelmed by how much I still have to do, in so little time. I feel disappointed that my shots aren't always perfect or lit well, or that my audio could be better. I feel worried that the class doesn't make sense at all and that people will dislike it.

So, yes... my mind is a bit like a creative ball of wool right now - sometimes rolled pretty neat, other times unravelling all over the place. Do you know the feeling?

The point is that all of this is normal. I've been here before and, amazingly, I know that, in the end, I will figure it all out. I may not know how right now, but I know I'll get there. And whether or not other people like what I have created at the end of my time on the project, I'll have made something I cared about. This is why I harp on about doing things that make you smile - because if you like it at its core, you'll keep on trying.

Seeing as my eyeballs feel a bit pooped from all the intense editing screen time, it's nice to be able to step into a quiet creative past-time that has no time-limit and no pixels. Carving this wooden puppet head is slow but steady and, hey, it's looking a bit more expressive now!

Creative wanders I've been enjoying...

Bookbinding Beginners Class (on Skillshare) by Ido Agassi I am fascinated by bookbinding and Ido creates beautiful books. I am not quite finished watching it yet - I am taking my time, watching it when I have time to focus and fall into it - but I am enjoying it very much.

Ologies (Podcast) with Alie Ward There are lots of Ologies in the world and I have recently gotten sucked in to expanding my knowledge of them via this podcast. Topics range from Volcanoes to Trees, Word Origins to Mars missions, Capybaras to Pigeons. It's science knowledge combined with charming, bizarre stories about what fuels -ologists' obsessions - so if you have any curiosities about all the things that get studied, enjoy!

Grab a snack, let's chill & create together...

On My Youtube: Loo Roll Collagraph This was utterly satisfying - making a collagraph plate out of toilet paper. It is a surprisingly adaptable material and the textures on the final print were so juicy!

Until the next time, Thank You for being here with me 💛

Keep Making Happy!

​www.gemmathepen.com | @gemmathepen​

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