Get ready! - The Camelot Lounge is Booked for 2017

Little Pattie, Dave Eisinger and the Band

Put on your dancing shoes, warm up your vocal cords and put some spit and polish on your stand-up shoes! The Camelot Lounge is booked for Thursday 20th July 2017 for our annual Performing Doctors extravaganza!

2017 will be Creative Doctors 6th year at this fabulous venue. Our history there has included performances by a whole array of doctor musicians, singer songwriters, spoken word poets, dancers, roller skaters, hula hoop artists, comedians and even a fabulous band or two. We have shown the occasional short film and even hosted the occasional VERY famous special guest. Who knows, maybe one or two of our doctors may also be famous in their creative lives one day.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - more than just a writer of detective stories

Greg De Moore and Ann Westmore's book about John Cade (the subject of my last post) drew my attention back to an old friend who was also one of John Cade's heroes, writer and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Conan Doyle was born in 1859 and graduated from the Medical School at Edinburgh University. He spent many years juggling his medical career with his ambitions as a writer. Like many modern medical graduates he was talented in both science and the humanities.

Introducing Dr Greg De Moore

Greg De Moore

Dr Greg De Moore is a psychiatrist and academic in western Sydney.

I first encountered Greg at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2009, probably during the January test, maybe even on my birthday which always falls in that test. He was out the back of the members stand in a little tent flogging cricket books.

I picked up a likely looking present for myself and asked the bloke behind the counter what he knew about it. “Great book,” he said. “About a colonial cricketer and champion AFL player who had a pretty difficult time from a psychological point of view” (I could be paraphrasing but that’s how I remember it)

“Never heard of the author,” I said, “can he write? I can’t bear a book that’s not well written”

“Well,” he said smiling widely, “I wrote it and may be a little biased so maybe you’d better ask someone else.”

The Great 2017 Schedule Shuffle

The Creative Doctors team is shaking things up a bit for 2017
We are still planning the usual three big events for the year - Writer's Night, Visual Artists Night and Performer's Night at Camelot - but this year they will come in a different order so be prepared!

Writer's Night will be in late March/early April

Photo by David Stephenson

Performer's Night at Camelot will be in late June/early July
Visual Artists Night will be in the latter part of the year

We're hoping that a winter's night at Camelot  will allow some people to come who are restricted by exams and spring holidays when we make Performer's Night later in the year.
We are also hoping that some of the visual artists who are willing to sell their work will be able to do so in the very active pre-Christmas market!

The dates will be finalised in the next few weeks so keep an eye on the blog and your email inbox.

Looking forward to seeing you at these and some other surprise events we have up our sleeves for 2017.

See you on Thursday Night!

Is psychiatry the most creative medical discipline?
Are psychiatrists the most talented doctors?

Looking at the program for Thursday's  Creative Doctors Performers Night at Camelot you might be forgiven for thinking so.

Cooking Up Some Creative Ideas

Here's something for you Creative Doctor cooks, and a story to go with it that might inspire you.

Tamika Woods is a young woman with a passion for art and cookery that stems from a childhood and adolescence where lactose and gluten intolerance forced her to take a keen interest in what she consumed. Her artistic heart was not happy with the "ordinary" stuff.




She's a girl who won't let obstacles get in her way. Since completing her training as an art teacher
Tamika has embarked on further studies in nutrition. She puts it all together in a beautiful blog called  Sproutly Stories.

This month Tam launched her first e-book - a week's worth of fabulous breakfast recipes. It comes with a promise that if you make them for a week not only will you feel better for it but she will give you back your $10 investment if you can prove you have done so. There is creativity in everything she does - including the marketing approach! Here's a link to the e-book if you're interested. The Morning Mission e-Book. Its worth clicking through to the blog just to look at the pictures.

We are all hoping her inspiring and nutritional gluten and lactose free recipes and gorgeous food photos are a great success

Performers Night 2016

What a slacker I have been - no posts since April! I have to admit that I get discouraged as I'm never sure if anyone is actually reading them
BUT
I do need to tell you that Performers Night is on again

Visual Arts Night 2016 - What an Inspiration!

CREATIVE Doctors - the blog is back!

We’re sorry about our absence over the last few months – like many doctors (and real people for that matter!) our lives have caught up with us and time and inspiration have trickled away.

But our Visual Arts Networking Night this month was such a treat it was worth coming back to tell you about it.

We know there is a lot of talent out there amongst medicos and nights like this are a great way to display some of it and share our passions with our colleagues. We also know we are probably only looking at the tip of the iceberg. There are many more of you who dabble in or seriously engage with the arts, and it would be great to hear your stories and see your work.

On our networking night we heard some terrific and inspiring stories. We heard of one man’s dilemma in having make a choice between general practice and a life as an artist after studying at the National Art School and another man’s sadness – having made a choice in favour of art over medicine 30 years ago and establishing an international reputation as a glass artist he is now closing his studio as fickle art investors turn away from the fragility of glass

We learned of one woman’s development of herself as an award winning artist when depression forced her to retire as a physician and a GPs use of art to ease the pain of being uprooted by her partner’s career.

A psychiatrist told of her lifelong affair with art and displayed the exciting and eclectic art she has produced

Two haematologists with similar stories of struggles in achieving recognition in their specialties after coming to Australia told of turning to art to provide solace – one is now an accomplished painter while the other displayed her fabulous felt creations and fabric dying work

We saw the work of a GP psychotherapist with a penchant for double exposure photography, a GP with a talent for faces, two others who make jewellery into the night and an young doctor who displayed a fabulous kinetic sculpture that incorporated a beautiful pastel artwork and a message for humanity.

If you are a doctor whose world is made richer by creative pursuits, let us know your story. It may be helpful to others who are struggling to put medicine in its proper place in their lives.