I've caught Maria Ramsey at a reinvention stage, having made the decision to stop teaching music and to explore other avenues that feel more creatively fulfilling. Maria is a multi-talented artist who has explored various creative outlets including visual art, poetry, and floral design. Growing up in a family that valued creativity and the arts, Maria was encouraged to pursue music, taking lessons in violin, piano, and singing. Despite having aspirations to study art, Maria eventually...

‘Getting back to being more me’. That’s how Rich Chambers describes just one of the wider benefits he has experienced from taking the decision to ramp up his musical pursuits in midlife. As a teenager, Rich played guitar and wrote music, and was going to be a rock star. He let his school studies slip, barely passing his graduation year, and set out to become the next ‘big thing’. Unfortunately, he quickly realized that being a professional musician was not as easy as he had anticipated....

Promotion and networking for creative-activity businesses The Creativity Found Collective offers multiple ways for members to connect and to promote what they do, and in this bonus podcast episode I delve into the origins of creativityfound.co.uk and the Collective, both born out of the Creativity Found podcast. I explain how I wanted to create a platform to help people explore their creativity and support small businesses offering creative activities or business support. Creativity Found...

'I was unaware that it wasn't normal to fall asleep when you're sat still.' Ruth Chipperfield, a goldsmith and jewellery designer, had always experienced excessive tiredness, but didn’t think anything more of it until a chat with a friend at uni revealed to her that not everyone struggled to stay awake at their desk in the same way she did. With the advice of her great uncle in Australia – where the condition was more recognised – Ruth was diagnosed with narcolepsy, an autoimmune disease...

How to ease the symptoms of Tourette’s Syndrome and start drawing again, without spilling ink all over the carpet! Guest  Fish Lee tells me about how his local TV weatherman played a key part in his getting to the bottom of a mystery illness that had plagued him physically, emotionally and behaviourally since he was a child, and how that diagnosis helped him to start drawing again, without spilling the ink. Fish's Tourette’s Syndrome was not diagnosed until he was in his thirties, after many...

Facing fears and taking risks Robert and Linda are classical pianists who have found a unique way to combine their music with comedy, stories, and improvisations. But the shows they devised had never been done before, and were very different to what was expected of concert pianists. So, as classical musicians, Linda and Robert were unsure of how their ideas would be received. The first time they tried out a new idea in front of an audience – including their mentor – they were nervous and...

Playing piano together (one piano, four hands) was an experimental idea for married couple Linda and Robert, one that taught them a lot about themselves and each other, which you can find out all about in the next, more usual episode of the podcast. In the meantime, enjoy their beautiful playing in this extract from their show called From Mistresses to Manhattan, whether you are listening while throwing pots in your studio in Canada, as Deborah Hughes Gahr likes to do, enjoying some alone...

Maybe it's not the right time, but never say never. Natalie Smart loved working with textiles as a youngster, from hand knitting to making her own clothes. Unfortunately, Textiles as an A-Level subject was discontinued at her school just as she was about to join the sixth form. Natalie was quite academic, so she had other choices. Faced with the decision of whether or not to take out a loan to go to university, Natalie decided against it, and instead found a job in pensions. Knitting and...

The science teacher who chose to break free from practicality, utility and patterns in textiles and paint. This week’s podcast guest, Claude Larson, has been sewing for years, while also teaching science classes to middle-school age teenagers in the US. A few years ago, Claude decided to throw out the patterns and instructions in favour of a new era of experimentation.  She stopped making practical, utilitarian items for the home and family, and began making art quilts. She studied value,...

Overcoming concerns about your singing voice post-menopause. Suzanne Noble had concerns about the tone of her voice after not having used it for many years. However, as you’ll hear in the show, she needn’t have worried, and with the help of coaching, encouragement and an inquisitive personality, Suzanne now has an ever-evolving musical repertoire. Suzanne Noble began her university studies – in the US – majoring in Musical Theatre. However, as she considered what her future performing life...

Childhood memories inspire a self-publishing project in retirement. When Jill Phillips was growing up, creative pursuits such as painting and writing were not activities that her working-class community ever thought of doing, they were considered luxury pastimes for the more wealthy Londoners. That was in the mid 1960s. Fast forward to the 2020s and Jill has published a memoir of life on Lamlash Street back then, and found a whole new outlook on life to boot. Jill had a way with words as a...

To keep her hands busy and her mind calm, Helen Hill crochets blankets for orphaned baby rhinos, among other things. Her passions also help her to manage her MS symptoms, to sit still where usually her symptoms force her to be constantly active, to calm her restless legs, and generally to escape the everyday.  Helen was good at her studies, at school and as an undergraduate studying graphics, but she lacked confidence, in her work, and more generally. Faced with a world where you have to be...

Annie Sloan had a dreamy, independent young life, which continued into her business career, since without a dream and an independent attitude, Annie's world-renowned Chalk Paint may never had been made. Annie was 41 years old when she invented and manufactured Chalk Paint, while also painting for clients and writing books while her three sons were at school or in bed. What shines out most in this episode of the podcast, however, is Annie's absolute belief that everyone is creative, and how...

In this bonus episode I’m speaking with Silvia Siret about how family constellations can help you get past blockages that may be holding you back, perhaps with regards to trying new creative activities. Silvia Siret at creativityfound.co.uk CreativityFound.co.uk Instagram: @creativityfoundpodcast Facebook: @creativityfoundpodcast Pinterest: @creativityfound Twitter: @creativityfoun Clubhouse: @clairewaitebrown and Creativity Found Connect club Music: Day Trips by Ketsa Undercover / Ketsa...

Just because you’ve got a solid background and experience in something that you are good at and successful in, doesn’t mean you have to stick with it if you no longer enjoy it. For this episode I’m speaking with Rowena Roberts, who became disheartened in her role as a sought-after copywriter so, with some guidance and courage, found a new channel for her writing and creativity Words Inspire at creativityfound.co.uk CreativityFound.co.uk Instagram: @creativityfoundpodcast Facebook:...

For this episode I’m speaking with . . . well, actually, for this episode my friend and fellow podcaster Rabiah Coon is speaking with me. Rabiah’s More Than Work podcast aligns brilliantly with Creativity Found, so please enjoy this episode and head over to More Than Work to find more great listening. In my own Creativity Found story, I talk about what the Creativity Found podcast means to me, and how it benefits me in so many ways – the social aspect, self-confidence, a sense of...

Do you need help navigating the minefield of self-publishing?  Perhaps you want to write a family history as a keepsake, have already written a book that needs finessing, or have an amazing idea for a novel but don’t know how to start writing it.  Maybe your book is already published but people just don’t seem to be finding it. This week’s bonus episode guest can help with any of these stumbling blocks, and more. Debrah Martin is a prolific author who wants to share her knowledge and...

Sally Ward had to decline her well-earned place in Sky’s Portrait Artist of the Year competition in 2019, but in 2020 she entered again and to her utter surprise made it all the way to the final. Sally painted Melanie Sykes, Bernadine Evaristo and Eddie Izzard, and was very relieved that she didn’t trip over any cables. Find out all about her experience in this second part of a double-bill podcast episode.  With thanks to Storyvault Films Ltd for audio...

Career-wise, Sally Ward balances her roles as a civil servant and as a portrait artist, and finds fulfilment, enjoyment and challenges in each.  She was a prolific artist as a youngster, and was allowed by her secondary school to go to the local sixth-form college to take life-drawing classes at the age of 14.  She was very interested in her other studies and went on to study music at Cambridge University, before working as an advisor for the Treasury, where she still works, albeit in a...

Andrea Carter Brown fell in love with reading poetry as an angsty teenager, but couldn’t bring herself to try writing it because she was put off by the high standard of the works she read.  ‘If I couldn’t write like the greats, I wasn’t going to try.’ Many years later Andrea’s friend took her to a New York poetry reading and, in that darkened room, Andrea began writing her own poetry on the only paper she could quickly find, and for weeks afterward she did nothing but write, letting years of...

For this bonus episode I am chatting with Nancy Fellows who founded Creatful CIC to enable people in her community to access mindful, informal arts and crafts events and, where needed, to signpost them to mental wellbeing services, all borne out of a need Nancy identified while struggling with her own mental health. As well as inspiring listeners with my guests’ stories of how they found or re-found their creativity as grown-ups and how that has benefitted their everyday lives, here at...

For this bonus episode I’m joined by Gillian Park, who teaches a wealth of painting and drawing programmes and courses, for the absolute beginner to those wanting to improve their skills, and even those wanting to make their art their livelihood.  Guests of the Creativity Found podcast often talk about, as youngsters, not knowing that being an artist could be a job, or not expecting later in life that their new-found artistic passion could make them any money. Which is why I love the concept...

For this short and sweet bonus episode (while I'm on summer hols) I caught up with Gerry Coles (episode 2) to find out what's new in her world of linocut printmaking. CreativityFound.co.uk Instagram: @creativityfoundpodcast Facebook: @creativityfoundpodcast Pinterest: @creativityfound Twitter: @creativityfoun Clubhouse: @clairewaitebrown and Creativity Found Connect club Music: Day Trips by Ketsa Undercover / Ketsa Creative Commons License Free Music Archive - Ketsa - Day Trips Artworks:...

In this short and sweet bonus episode (while I'm on summer hols) I caught up with Cass Sabo (episodes 3 and 22) to find out what's new in her world of weaving. CreativityFound.co.uk Instagram: @creativityfoundpodcast Facebook: @creativityfoundpodcast Pinterest: @creativityfound Twitter: @creativityfoun Clubhouse: @clairewaitebrown and Creativity Found Connect club Music: Day Trips by Ketsa Undercover / Ketsa Creative Commons License Free Music Archive - Ketsa - Day Trips Artworks: Emily...

Ella Orr’s parents came to the UK from Mauritius in the 1960s and, understandably, they wanted Ella to do well academically. But they also wanted her and her sister to have a wider outlook and sent them to dancing and music lessons, which Ella loved, so much so that she choose to do a creative arts degree. But once thoughts turned to earning a living, musical theatre didn’t seem like a lucrative or sensible path, so Ella was encouraged to go into teaching.  More than a decade into her primary...