31/10/2026
For the longest time, I believed I wasn’t creative.
Growing up, I thought creativity meant being talented at music, painting, drawing or building. None of those came naturally to me. And for many years I carried this belief, which was frustrating, as my parents were both creative and naturally talented in ways I felt I wasn’t.
It has taken me into adulthood to recognize that creativity has actually been part of my life all along. In the way I brought people together, created connections, and especially through cooking during our retreat years in Turkey. But at the time, I didn’t see it as such.
A few years ago, my artist friend Annabelle introduced me to her collage work. I fell in love with it!
Playing with colours, images, and textures, telling stories and expressing emotions without needing to know how to draw or paint, felt so natural to me.
What I love most is that there doesn’t need to be a purpose or a result. Unlike gardening, which is also a creative expression for me but often comes with an intention, collaging allows me to simply play. To create for the sake of creating.
For my 51st birthday, I invited a few girlfriends over and we spent some beautiful hours creating collages together. It’s become one of my favourite ways to express myself and nourish myself, and I’m happy to share some of my collage creations from the past few years here today!
I’m grateful to Annabelle, and to Ruth, with whom I’m now exploring painting, for opening this door.
