The tower of St Helen's church, Sandal, set amongst hills sketched
a mile further along the track at Walton and trees sketched on
the way to Sheffield.
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 As
I did last Monday, I'm commuting to the Peak District again. There's
time to draw a leaf of dandelion and a buddleia seedling, growing
in gravel alongside the platform as I wait for the train. I can't
say that I feel like settling into a drawing with the proverbial
anxiety of a train to catch but I'm acting on the belief that any
drawing is going to be better than none.
I've never done more than dip into The Artist's Way, Julia
Cameron's self-help guide to freeing up your creativity,
because creative flow isn't really a problem for me, just finding
the time to settle down and make something of that creativity. She
suggests that you should start every morning by writing a page or
two - more or less whatever comes into your mind - not in order
to produce any finished work but just to kick-start the creative
side of your brain.
 So,
I might not be especially inspired by the trackside sights of Sheffield,
but it is getting my eye in and getting my brain into some kind
of synthesising mode before I get off the train in Hope (both metaphorically
and literally - that's the name of the village where I'm starting
my walk today).
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