Some of our loyal readers may sense today's guest is familiar in some way... They'd be right. Back in 2020 we published a short interview with him that you can find HERE.
Francis H Powell obtained a degree in painting and an MA in printmaking in England before moving to Austria in 1995, where he began teaching English as a 2nd language while pursuing his varied artistic interests from music to writing. He currently lives in Moret sur Loing, France writing both prose and poetry. Francis has had several short stories published in the Rat Mort Magazine and other works on the internet site: Multi-dimensions. He has had three books published and has also compiled Together Behind Four Walls - a book of short stories, poems and illustrations, featuring other writers and poets, which has raised money for Marie Curie nurses. His poetry has appeared in several anthologies and enjoys performing poetry readings for Paris Lit Up as well as other events. He invites today's readers to check out his Youtube channel or visit him on FaceBook
The Power Of Creativity Over Adversity
When we are faced with a problem or difficulty in our lives, what can we turn to?
Think back to when the Corona virus broke out. What were your thoughts and inclinations at that time? How did you emotionally deal with what was going on? For me and my family, we turned to drawing and writing. Poetry seemed the perfect way to express how I was feeling.
Concerning drawing, with time on our hands, after breakfast we began to work on our different drawings. Maybe they were not directly inspired by the pandemic that was going on, but there was a need to draw. Some of this work ended up in a book I compiled called "Together Behind Four Walls," which has poetry, short stories, and illustrations inspired by the pandemic and lockdowns.
Both my wife and I went to art school, so maybe it is natural that our son has a strong connection with drawing and all that it offers. On top of this, he watches cartoons on television and looks at comic books. We are in the midst of a battle to get him to read books without images, but sometimes he can just feast on the images.
We live in France, and the French education system is very rigid and, from my point of view, overwhelmingly dated. My son is fully bilingual. Next year he will go to a new school, where he will do things like creative writing, something that would be alien to his present school, which seems to be about dictations and learning how to conjugate verbs. Some of his present schoolwork seems mind-numbingly boring; hopefully his new school will embrace his creativity.
We also went through a phase at Christmas when a boy was bullying him and putting him down as often as he could. This brought about a hunger for him to draw, and in a way, his drawings are like a diary or record of what is going on deep in his mind. He would even draw during his school lessons, but the teacher couldn't accept this and even threw his drawings in the trash . How can a parent explain to another adult how important it is for him to draw? It is his way of dealing with trauma or things that are disturbing him. Some children find it hard to express themselves with words, so drawing is an important outlet. To this day, he is still a fervent drawer.
I included a dedication in my book to my son and all children who draw, saying that they should continue to draw and use their imaginations. My message to parents, buy sketchbooks, pens and pencils and get your children to draw.
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ReplyDeleteThank you Francis for sharing this article with our audience :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for kindly putting on your isite.
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