Sketchbook Tips From Semi Skimmed Min

I stumbled across this video full of wisdom for freeing up your creativity. I am much too ordered with my sketchbooks and there are some great tips here to encourage loosening up.

Vegan Banana & Date Loaf

Sunday morning and three bananas going slowly brown in the fruit bowl, perfect time for a little baking.  I found a recipe on BBC Good Food and adapted it by swapping the sugar for maple syrup and plain flour for spelt. The end result was quite dense but super tasty and I could feel the goodness in it : )

Ingredients
3 large ripe bananas
75g coconut oil
65ml maple syrup
225g spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla essence
50g chopped dates

Method 
Mash the bananas in a big bowl and add all the wet ingredients. Give it a good stir. Then add the dry ingredients and stir until everything is combined. Cook for approximately 40 minutes at 180 fan / 200 degrees. Cover with foil if you feel the top is browning too much. 

Allow to cool on a wire rack and then enjoy with a coffee and a pile of good books. 

Beautiful Opportunity

I read these words in the midst of an article online and they struck a chord. Creativity takes courage. Things happen in life that knock your confidence and test your ability to trust the good. Keep hoping. Be tenacious. Sometimes a beautiful opportunity is just that.

Sunday Song - Out Of Sight

Another 6 Music discovery. Lovely, light, summer tune.

Spring Favourites from Holly Exley

This beautifully made video from Holly Exley is the epitome of a quiet life. I’ve recommended her videos on here before and they just get lovelier and lovelier. There are some lovely tips for sweet things in this little gem. 

Five Minutes

With little time to create at the moment due to my day job, I find myself doing things like this in the five minutes while I wait for my dinner to cook. Normal service will resume shortly : )

#littlebitofpretty

I treated the flower stall like a sweet shop and picked my favourites to make a little bouquet for my desk. Beautiful colours in these blooms.

Sunday Song - Hunger

"Don't let it get you down, you're the best thing I've seen
We never found the answer but we knew one thing
We all have a hunger."

I've had this song on a loop for days, when I run, when I draw... It's going to be amazing live. And the light in the video is just beautiful.

Late Night Thoughts

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Sometimes creating is like howling into the night and then sometimes it's like dancing with the stars. And I guess the point is, it doesn't have to matter. Creating is creating.

Create - Making An Anthem Out Of Sounds

"I left my studio behind and went on an epic journey. I wanted to see if I could capture the song, what it is that makes us, us."

I posted a few days ago about Dan Mace, a director I discovered via Casey Neistat's channel on YouTube. Inspired by his vision and creativity, I've been watching Dan's back catalogue and found this absolute gem. Magical.