Maintaining creativity

Despite the full-time (and over-time, really) study around here these days, I'm still determined to keep some creativity in my life.  It's very hard though.  I come in late, talk to the children, help with their homework and wish with all my heart that someone else was making dinner - I don't feel like pottering in the kitchen when I've been doing urine tests and drawing bacteria all day.  The early evening in the kitchen is no longer a creative part of my day. I absently stand at the stove, thinking of biology or planning essays in my head and not really caring so much what sort of soup I'm making.

But late last night I finished knitting a sock, and today I had a morning at home learning the cardiovascular system, so I took five minutes out of my studies to photograph it in the sunshine.  This sock grew really fast until I started University, and since then it's only grown a couple of rows at a time.  I knit for ten minutes at a time, late in the evening after I've finished studying, maybe once every few days. 

New sock (l) and very old sock (r)

So I know this sock is going to be without its other half for many months to come, but just imagine the sense of accomplishment I will feel when it's done!

The other outlet for my creativity is colouring pencils.  With so much anatomy and biology to learn, I find it easiest to take in the information by drawing and colouring.  Yesterday, it was mitosis and today it has been the directional flow of blood through the heart.

 

I think my anatomy and biology notebook is going to be the most colourful one on campus.