What would you rescue?

One of the best writing exercises I do with students is to give them a random object - even a half-used bottle of bubble bath once - and they have to invent the character who would rescue this object above all others from their burning house, and why. It's amazing how the stories come tumbling out. Well, this is definitely something I'd rescue...



I just love looking at it - there's something so soothing about the colours, but also in the texture of the textiles, which is why it hangs just outside my bedroom. It's designed by Anne Kelly, and, because I know Anne, it's been fascinating to see how an artist develops her work through the years and also the influences - travel, family, life - that seem to form a dialogue between her and her work. This is, of course, the same with writing but it takes longer for books to come out, which means its harder to read the clues. And there's always the feeling that, by the end of the book, you aren't the same person who started out writing it. I'm not sure whether it's the same for artists, but I'm interested in that.

And because the picture above doesn't do Anne's work justice, here's something I nicked off her website.