We all have creative friends.  Creativity is characteristic of human beings.

But some of us are shy about it and others don’t ever get the chance to explore and develop our creative talents. These tend to get channelled into our working and family lives. Being creative for ourselves seems somehow rather selfish!

But look back to the creative bursts in your own life. If they’re anything like mine they happened:

• as a young child of 8-10 when imagination has no limits, there are no responsibilities, and making things is fun.
• then as a 15-16 year-old when we want to break boundaries to see what’s possible – and find out who we are.
• and then when our 9-till-5 lives are over, family responsibilities ease,  and we have more choice about how we divide our time between work and play. Now there’s a chance to rediscover and indulge our creativity.

A few lucky people can make a living from their creative talents – for them there’s no distinction between work and play. (Though writing books is hard work, I feel much the same about what I do.)

Here are some creative friends of mine whose work brings a lot of pleasure to others – more to follow, but not all of them have a website!

Rosanna Henderson creates beautiful art in mosaic, from small items like coasters and house numbers to major outdoor commissions: http://rosannasmosaics.com/

John Byrne‘s multitudinous talents know no bounds: cartoonist, talent agent (stand-up comedy), published author, talent Agony Uncle for The Stage – and probably more that I don’t know about…  http://johnbyrnecartoons.com/

Ex-colleague. friend and neighbour Robin Duval is a former film producer turned chief film censor for the BBFC, and now novelist. He writes cracking thrillers that keep you turning the pages. http://robinduval.co.uk/

Steve Boorman has built cars and boats in his time. He is also a talented landscape photographer. Now he’s creating characters to feature in his animations and children’s books – with a little help from West Dean College.