One of the best strategies to enhance and enjoy your creativity comes from Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way.* The Artist Date invites you take yourself out for something that’s fun for your creative self. Alone or with others, these outings are meant to fill your creative well, to spark your spirit, and quite simply, to enjoy yourself.
I love Artist’s Dates, and use this tool to help my clients reconnect with their playful self and their juju.
Some favorite artist dates include visiting:
- galleries or museums
- bookstores
- paper stores
- art supply stores
- spice shops/gourmet food stores
- author lectures/booksignings
- walking in the park or in the city or in the countryside or anywhere….
If you don’t live in a place where there’s a lot of cultural activity, your Artist Dates may look much simpler – sitting by a lake or pond, strolling in a forest, gazing across an open field.
I want to emphasize that an Artist Date doesn’t need to cost a lot of money, and it’s not about buying more stuff. It’s about experiencing new stimuli to spark new ideas for you, and they don’t have to cost a penny.
I’ve got several Artist Dates scheduled on the calendar. It helps me to plan some of them in advance and also leave room for spontaneous outings. As with scheduling writing and exercise time, when I schedule the Artist Dates, I’m sure they’re going to happen.
These are the Artist Dates I have for this month. Feel free to show up and say hello if you see me; I’d love to see my local creative pals in person!
Saturday, January 15th 2:00 – 5:00 pm Nick Bantock Retrospective at the Museum of Outdoor Art in Englewood. Meet at 2:00 and enjoy the retrospective of the Griffin and Sabine author, then convene nearby at 4 for coffee/tea and discussion. This is an informal gathering that I’ve organized; you won’t find information about it on the museum’s site, but don’t worry, I’ll be there.
Saturday, January 22nd (I think this is some time in the afternoon; can’t find the time on the ASL site) Just Paper lecture and exhibit at the Art Student’s League.
Saturday, January 29th 9:00 am – 4:30 pm Writers Respond to Readers at the Tattered Cover. (I believe this is now sold out.)
Friday, February 4th at 6:00 pm Printmaking lecture Art Student’s League
Saturday, February 19th at 1:00 pm Painting from Pictures lecture Art Students League at Whole Foods Capitol Hill (a mere block from my home, yea!)
These are things I have on the calendar and I’ll also be visiting the Tattered Cover and Two Hands Paperie for fun and goodies.
What Artist Dates are on your calendar? Colorado creatives: what Artist Dates do you recommend for me?
*If you haven’t read The Artist’s Way, please do it! This book absolutely changed my life and is still the source of many of my beliefs about the power and possibility in creativity.
I call these inspiration dates and try to schedule one once a week (I have to admit I never did read Julia’s book – I tried – just couldn’t get into it for some reason).
My week long inspiration date coming up soon: a trip to costa rica.
I also go to a lot theater, ballet, concerts, etc for inspiration. I’ve got a play coming up this weekend (I haven’t a clue what it is) and midsummer nights dream in Feb. My favorite is the dance – going to see the aspen santa fe ballet and Romeo and Juliet by the Colorado Ballet in Feb also
There is an artist lecture at the Denver Art Museum on 1/19 that I plan to attend by Clare Twomey.
And I hope to be there this saturday at 2pm to see Nick Bantock.
I just love this! When you suggested it, I scheduled a day in Chicago to the Cultural Center to see this: http://www.shewired.com/article.cfm?id=26404 And I just made hotel reservations for the Atlanta art show. I feel better already.