Love Tokens and Bad Pennies – Collect Connect Exhibition, and the joy of 'found' art

Stella Tripp's artwork, waiting to be found

There’s something about the idea of scattering little pieces of art in random locations that appeals to my inner child. I’ve always loved the idea of discovery – of venturing forth and finding new adventures. Perhaps that’s partly why I adore visiting charity shops. It’s that sense that you never quite know what you will find. Another person’s cast-off might yet turn out to be the beginnings of a new adventure. I shall never forget the excitement, for instance, of finding a hand-printed Victorian book of love poems, languishing in a pile of postcards at my local Oxfam shop. But it’s not just shop-bought treasures. All small things have the capacity to thrill me. I’m a nightmare to go on a walk with because I can never resist picking up a heart-shaped leaf or a beautifully polished pebble.


There’s something of this thrill of discovery in Alban Low and Dean Reddick’s creative exhibitions. I say ‘exhibition’ but, really, that word seems wholly inadequate. Imagine an exhibition with no walls, whose gallery is the wide-open spaces, and whose visitors are anyone who happens to walk past.

Each of the small artworks in ‘Collect Connect’ are placed in public spaces, where passers-by can connect and interact with them. There are no rules; no money changes hands. Only adventures to be shared and enjoyed.


In keeping with the month of Valentine’s Day, the theme of the latest exhibition is Love tokens and Bad Pennies. This is explained on the Collect Connect blog:

“Does love endure forever? Does a bad penny always turns up?

Both the Love Token and the Bad Penny are part of the currency of life, two sides of the same coin. These everyday objects are defaced or distinguished to help us remember those who we hold dear and those who we would rather forget.”

Artwork by Alban Low at #unsettledgallery No.10

Artworks from 17 artists will appear placed in or beside fountains and sacred waterways in London during each day of February. Accompanying the artworks are new written works by a poets or authors, which appear on the CollectConnect blog.

https://collectconnect.blogspot.com/
https://collectconnect.blogspot.com/

This is where I come in. I volunteered to write responses to three of the artworks because it seemed too good an opportunity to miss. I love the idea of ‘found’ art. I also relish the creative challenge of responding to somebody else’s art and, in doing so, finding new creative forms of expression. My selection was based purely on emotional response. Those artworks that seemed to stimulate words or ideas were the ones I chose to write about. In fact, the poems (and one short prose piece) wrote themselves. I’d come up with a vague idea and often find that, once I started writing, the words ran away from me and took on ideas of their own. So a story that was meant to be about first love quickly became a study in dangerous obsession. And a poem about the interconnectedness of things turned into a sort of folk riddle. I like the fact that the three pieces I wrote are each completely different in character, each identifying a different form of love. That wasn’t intentional; it just happened, as these things so often do.

Anyway, I hope you’ll take a look at the blog https://collectconnect.blogspot.com/ and if you happen to be anywhere near London, specially around Walthamstow/ Twickenham area, see if you can spot one of the artworks. Who knows, it may take you on creative adventures of your own…

Listen with your eyes…

I was walking up the hill on the way back from school. It had been a long working day and I was tired, hot, and anxious to get home. Suddenly, my three-year-old daughter stopped dead in her tracks and pointed, excitedly: “Look, Mummy! A spider!”

“Yes, yes, I see it. Come on now, we need to get home…”

But she stood stock still, and refused to budge, adamant: “Mummy, you’re listening with your ears, but not your eyes!”

I stopped and looked at the tree she was pointing at for the first time, and we both stood and watched, entranced and fascinated, as a spindly-legged spider spun her web before our very eyes. Each miniature gossamer thread grew as we watched, creating a structure of intricate beauty, delicate, yet strong. I’ve no idea how much time passed. I’d already forgotten whatever it was I’d been anxious to get home for. Instead, the two of us stood transfixed, enjoying this special moment together – listening with our eyes.

Mindfulness, at its very simplest, is a simple choice to live life in the moment. Approaching situations mindfully, we can momentarily forget our cares and anxieties and simply enjoy and appreciate the here and now.

A lot of the time we do things without really being conscious of them at all. For instance, how many times have you eaten an entire meal and not really tasted a single mouthful? Or got to the bottom of a cup of coffee without realising you’d drunk it?

We spend much of our time on autopilot – in a way, we have to, otherwise we’d get nothing done. We become expert multi-taskers. It’s not unusual to find me, of an evening, simultaneously cooking a meal, sorting socks into pairs, and editing and article! This is even more the case in today’s multi-connected, multi-wired society. We are all instantly contactable at the click of a button, even in the privacy of our homes. With social media and aps such as Instagram and Facebook, there are always voices to be heard, messages to be checked and responded to, news items and personal matters demanding our immediate attention.

Being connected can be helpful, and even give us a sense of community. The problem is that unless we make a conscious effort to stop occasionally, to switch off and slow down, we risk missing out on life’s richest moments.

There’s an internet photo doing the rounds at the moment, a picture of tourists on board gondolas in Venice, the most beautiful city in the world. It could be the perfect picture-postcard shot, but for one small detail. Every single person in the picture is looking at the screen of their mobile phone. In their eagerness to tell the rest of the world about their amazing experience, they are missing out on the beauty and joy of the moment itself.

Often, if we’re honest, we’re all like that. Here we all are, on this beautiful and amazing planet for, if we’re lucky, 80 or so years, on the journey of our lives – and we’re missing the whole show!

So why not take a moment or two today, just to listen. Listen with your ears, your eyes, your whole self. Because that’s really, in essence, all that Mindfulness is. It’s incredibly simple, when you think of it. But also life changing.

What’s holding you back? – Ditch the pebble in your shoe

I promised I would tell you about the 10 Days Writing Challenge for Conscious Leaders run by Tara Nicholle-Nelson http://www.taranicholle.com/writingchallenge/. It’s been such a whirlwind couple of weeks that this is the first proper chance I’ve had to sit and write this. But, a promise is a promise, so here goes…

The idea of the Challenge is simple: you are sent a series of daily prompts, which you then use as a basis for writing 30 minutes a day, for ten days.

I expected the prompts to be challenging, uplifting and thought-provoking. What I didn’t expect is what happened next.

A lot of the prompts were focused around the idea of creating a better vision for yourself. For the first day’s challenge, we had to create inventive titles for ourselves, using descriptions that fitted what we like to do and how we liked to be seen. I enjoyed that one. On Day 5, we were asked to write as if we were speaking to a younger version of ourselves. To my surprise, my ‘inner child’ turned out to be a disaffected teenager who was disappointed in me:

‘It could've been so different,’ she said, ‘You had so much enthusiasm, so much potential. Where did it all go wrong?’

‘I’m sorry,’ I said, ‘I should've listened. Real life got in the way...’

‘It’s not too late,’ she said, ‘Come here’.
She offered me her hand. I don't know why, but I took it. She walked back over to the dustbins. She sat on one, I sat on the other. Swinging our legs. Writing.
‘See,’ she said, ‘It’s not so difficult. Not once you begin...’
I turned to reply, but there was nobody next to me, only a small indent on top of the dustbin lid, where she had been sitting. Her notepad was gone too, but mine was filled with strange, unfamiliar words. I went on writing and writing. I haven’t stopped.'

But the biggest surprise came on, I think, Day 3, the title of which was ‘Breakthrough’. We were invited to write about any limiting beliefs or toxic messages we had absorbed through others which was keeping us from fulfilling our true potential. I sat down still and silent for about fifteen minutes, let my mind drift…and then it all came flooding out.

Back when I was on maternity leave, I was made redundant. Losing my job with a young baby to support was bad enough, but the manner in which it was done was deeply humiliating. As part of the rationale for ‘letting me go’, my boss had put together, in my absence and with no consultation, a document assessing my abilities. Despite having an unblemished track record and having been nominated for a national award, under the column headlined ‘Future Potential’ were the words…13 per cent.

I challenged the decision, but got nowhere and in the end, I settled for a small redundancy payout and enjoyed the chance to spend as much time as possible with my beautiful daughter. One day, when I was at the bank negotiating an overdraft, the woman cashier asked if I worked. When I told her I’d lost my job when my baby was born, she scowled at me and said ‘Oh, you’ll never work again, then’. I went home in tears, feeling an abject failure.

As soon as my daughter was at school full-time, I began freelance writing and editing. I had a steady trickle of work, and I honestly thought I had put everything behind me. But when I started on the writing prompt, out it all came….

Thirteen per cent. That figure. Somehow, in the back of my mind, that total had become lodged, like a stone in my shoe I couldn’t get out. So I looked at it. I took it out. I examined it some more.

I thought about how ridiculous it was that I’d carried that stone – for almost a decade – and allowed it to grow and grow and fester until it had molded itself to my sub-conscious. I had actually started to believe that I was worthless, that I would never do well again.

And then I thought about how ridiculous it was. How on earth could anybody put a figure on another person’s potential?!  I thought about my beautiful daughter, the moment I first saw her newborn face and perfect tiny fingers and fingernails, and of all the amazing potential she held within her – a whole life’s worth! I thought of how each one of us is a miracle of infinite potential. I realized that this number that had been limiting me for so long was just that - nothing but a random number on a page – and bore no resemblance to who I was as a person. And I made the conscious decision to throw it away.

Since then, something rather magical has happened. I have stopped saying ‘no’ to projects just because I thought I wasn’t worthy of them. I have stopped thinking of myself as a failure, limited by past hurts or disappointments. I have started valuing myself, and in the process, properly valuing other people (because they have unlimited potential too!) And the work has come flooding in – so much that I can barely keep on top of it!

I had heard of the power of positive attraction before, but I’d never really realised that my own self-doubt was the very thing that was holding me back. Once I had plucked that painful stone from my sub-conscious…I found I was able to dance!

So my message to others reading this and perhaps holding onto past hurts or feelings of disappointment or failure is this…don’t let others limit your potential. Don’t let others put a percentage on your abilities, because you have within you all the resources you need to do whatever you dream. 

Wishing you peace and blessings, always x

Ssshh….whisper it….it’s okay not to be perfect

The artist Cezanne painted the same mountain more than 60 times.

Hi there, I haven’t written for a few days, partly because I’ve been doing the Ten Day Writing Challenge http://www.taranicholle.com/writingchallenge/ (of which more later), and partly because I’ve been crazy busy juggling writing, family and work. Recently, I’ve been thinking about all the things that keep me from writing creatively. There are many, of course, and some are excuses. For instance, I often complain I don’t have enough time, but I somehow find the time to mess about on Facebook, watch funny videos of cats on YourTube and…well, you get the picture.

If I’m honest, though, the main thing that holds me back is lack of confidence. Speaking to others, I know I’m not alone in this, so I thought I’d share a few experiences. So here goes. Here are a few of my most common excuses for not writing…

‘But I’m not a writer!’

This is my greatest fear. Psychologists call it ‘imposter syndrome’ – the fear that, whatever you try to be good at, you will eventually be revealed as a fraud. When it comes to writing, it feels inappropriate, even arrogant, to award myself the same title as, say, Dylan Thomas or Shakespeare or JK Rowling. But even the most successful writers go through many drafts and face countless rejections before finding success.

Jane Austen’s early draft of Pride and Prejudice was rejected by a London publisher and left to languish on the author’s desk for a further sixteen years until it was finally published in 1813. JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series was rejected by twelve different publishing houses before becoming an international best-seller.

So just because your work isn’t hitting the best-sellers lists doesn’t mean you are not a writer. What is a writer? Simple. A writer is someone who writes. An artist is someone who makes art. A musician is someone who makes music. If you do any of these things, you qualify. You have earned the title of artist.

‘But anyone could do what I do!’

Here’s one I’m particularly guilty of. Perhaps it’s because of competitive shows like The Voice and the X Factor but it feels like, in order to be an artist, you have to be better than everybody else. Well, here’s a secret: You don’t.

I was never very keen on art at school. (Art lessons, back then, consisted of being sat down opposite a vase of flowers, or something equally dull. Those who could paint a decent vase of flowers were ‘artists’. The rest of us were not). But recently I’ve discovered Celtic art. I love the way the shapes and patterns curl and flow into one another, and drawing them makes me deeply satisfied. I’m not a brilliant artist; I make art because I enjoy it. For a long time, I hid my paintings away. I was frightened that if I showed them to others, they’d dismiss them. I felt like a fraud. What if somebody came up to me and said ‘That’s rubbish! Anyone could do that!’ Or, even worse, ‘My six-year-old child could do that?’

It was the same with my writing. I loved creating poetry but whenever I received another rejection from a literary magazine or was unplaced in a poetry competition, it felt like a slap across the face. I grew deeply jealous of the success of other poets, even to the point of resolving not to write any more. Then I realised how ridiculous I was being. Of course a lot of people could paint or write as well as me if they wanted to! But the fact is that I am doing it. It’s not about seeking others’ approval. It’s the act of creating, of leaving my mark upon the world.

These days, if somebody came up to me and said ‘but I could paint that just as well’ my response would be ‘Brilliant! I’m glad I have inspired you – now go and do it!’ Life is not a competition. You don’t have to be the best, or the best-selling, or the most successful. That’s not what creativity is for.

I was watching a TV programme a while ago about child prodigies. There was a little girl, aged about nine, who was brilliant on the piano. She was amazing, truly gifted. Yet listening to her performances, there was something missing. Yes, technically they were brilliant, but when she played she was totally static, like a machine, with no emotion. When asked after her concert why she liked playing the piano, she answered ‘Because I can win competitions’. She had been gifted with the most amazing ability, yet had failed to see the whole purpose of the music, which is uplift the spirit, to bring yourself and others joy.

‘But I’m not good enough to show people my work yet!’

Here’s another secret: The more you create, the better you will get at it. When I was living in London, I went to visit an exhibition of works by the artist Cézanne, most famous for his painting of the SainteVictoire Mountain. Did you know that he painted that same mountain over 60 times? And that’s just the ones we know about. I wonder how many more potential masterpieces ended up crumpled up in litterbins because their creator wasn’t quite happy with them?

In fact, scientists have come up with the exact formula for how much work you need to put in, in order to become good at something. They determined that it took exactly 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert in any field – be it learning a new language, training for a sport, or mastering a musical instrument. Broken down, that’s around 20 hours a week over 10 years, or about two hours a day. But even if you can’t afford a full two hours (and let’s be honest, who of us can?!), just a few minutes each day will make a big difference.

Whilst we might not all be a Mozart or a Beethoven in the making, it stands to reason that when you start out on a new skill, there’s only one way to go – and that’s up! Of course, there will be pitfalls and disappointments along the way, which brings me to my next objection…

‘I can’t do it – it’s too difficult!’

Well, hmmm, yes. Most things that are worthwhile are difficult. Or, at least, they start off difficult, before they become easier, and then become more difficult again. A few years ago, my husband and I took up archery. We started off in a blaze of enthusiasm, practicing whenever we had the chance. And surprise, surprise, we got better at it! But then after a while, we didn’t seem to be getting better at it any more. Our progress hit a plateau. There were always people better than us, and we couldn’t be as good as them. It just didn’t seem worth the effort, so we stopped.

Writing can be particularly disheartening, because it is a largely solitary activity and the process of trying to get published attracts rejection. So it’s tempting to give up. Sometimes, I hit rock bottom, and have writer’s block, and can’t write another word. But then I remember why I started doing it in the first place. I didn’t start writing because I wanted to be published, or liked, or admired. I started writing because I had to, because I couldn’t imagine doing anything else, because I had a head full of ideas that would explode if they didn’t somehow find some manner of expression. And somehow, just realising this, makes the whole process easier.

‘But I will never be the next JK Rowling/Jane Austen (insert writer of your choice)

Of course you won’t! You were never meant to be! You are you. Nobody else in the world has your exact range of experiences, your insight, your way of expression. You are utterly unique, an individual. Nobody else sees the world through your eyes. So quit trying to be like everybody else, and focus on being the best possible version of you. If it helps, imagine you have just met someone at a party. What questions might they ask you? What stories might you tell? Start with what you know. Tell your stories, as only you know how. They are rich, they are valuable, they are beautiful; they are Yours.

Do you suffer from imposter syndrome? What stops you writing, and what are you doing about it? Write and tell me about it in the comments section below. 

How to Boost Your Creativity: 10 Top Tips for Mindful Creatives

Ever wondered how to give your creativity a quick boost? Here are some tried-and-tested tips…

1.       Put on some music

It’s a familiar scenario: you sit down at your desk to write and find yourself staring at a blank page for hours. You give up and go to a café instead, and suddenly the ideas come flowing from your pen.

Ever wondered why? Well, the answer just might lie in the background chatter. Researchers led by Ravi Mehta at the University of Illinois asked subjects to carry out a series of creative tasks set against differing noise levels. They found that 70 decibels – a moderate level of background noise roughly equivalent to what you’d find in an average coffee shop – was ideal. If you can’t afford the price of a Frappuccino, some gentle music, played at a low volume, will do the job just as well.

2. Switch off technology

It’s estimated we receive an average 63,000 words of information a day – and spend around three quarters of our time every day receiving and processing information. With so much ‘noise’ it’s little wonder creative thoughts can easily get crowded out. Take some time each day to switch off everything – mobiles, computers, TVs – and simply focus on the here and now. Your brain will thank you for it.
See here for more tips: https://writemindfully.blogspot.com/

3. Get outside

It’s long been known that being out in nature stimulates a sense of wellbeing, but did you know it can also make you more creative?  In a 2012 study, neuroscientist David Strayer found that backpackers were 50% more creative after spending four days out on the trail. They also showed improved evaluation and problem-solving skills. So if you’re feeling stuck for new ideas, perhaps a trip to the local park is in order.

4. Keep your desk messy

Yes, really! A University of Minnesota study found that people are more likely to arrive at creative solutions to a problem when working in slightly disorganised (rather than spotlessly tidy) environments. Great news for messy people like me – though perhaps not so much for those who have to live with us!

5. Carry a notebook

The best ideas usually arrive when we’re most relaxed – which is often when we are least prepared for them. Writing is a bit like catching butterflies; you have to catch the ideas when they come, otherwise they float away. Carry a notebook and pen, or record snippets of poetry onto your mobile. Not all of them will be usable, but the more you write, the more chances you have of finding that one idea that will. Simple!

6. Change the media

Can’t write that story? Then why not sketch it? Picture refuses to be drawn? Then turn it into a poem…or a song…or a short film! Sometimes simply changing the media you’re working in can help shift your creative block, opening up new ways of self-expression. Connect with other artists, visit a gallery and challenge yourself to write a short poem or haiku on each painting, or listen to a piece of classical music and see what stories it tells.

7. Try some colour magic

If you’re feeling blocked, try looking at something green…or something blue. Psychological studies investigating the effects of different colours on the brain have found these two colours to be the most effective for stimulating creative thought. It’s thought the reason could lie with their association with nature. Green is linked with creativity and growth, whilst blue is thought to promote positive feelings such as openness, peace and tranquillity.

8. Daydream

Have you ever noticed your best ideas often come to you when you’re in the bath or washing the dishes? There’s a reason for that. When we’re engaged in simple, repetitive tasks, the rational/logical part of the brain becomes less active, enabling more creative/intuitive thoughts to take control. So next time you’re feeling ‘stuck’, take a break, do the dishes, go for a walk or have a shower. Just make sure you get back to your desk afterwards!

9. Exercise

‘A healthy mind in a healthy body’ – we all know the physical benefits of exercise, but it’s good for your brain too. A new study in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (Colzato, Szaporo) shows that regular exercisers perform better on tests of creativity and are better at problem-solving than those who are less physically active. Time to get those running shoes on!

10. Meditate

Scientists are only just beginning to appreciate the full benefits of mindful meditation on the brain. Dutch cognitive psychologist Matthijs Baas found that mindfulness meditation improved people’s powers of observation, focus and ability to describe an event – all very useful skills for a creative writer. He concluded: ‘To be creative, you need to have, or be trained in, the ability to observe, notice and attend to phenomena that pass your mind’s eye.’