Artist's Dates

Welcome to week 2! Jessie has written a wonderful post about the week ahead along with some gentle encouragement. I don't have much to add, but Melba has asked for some inspiration for her Artist's Dates, so I decided to tackle that topic.

This group has grown large!! It's wonderful and inspiring, however, it also means that it takes a lot of time to visit everyone's blog in a day (which would be very hard to keep up with on a daily basis and get anything done!) Jessie and I decided from the start that we wouldn't let this overwhelm us, so I want to ask for your help. Not that you really need to be asked, I've seen already that you have been visiting the other blogs in this group and leaving supportive comments. That's awesome! We *all* need encouragement and support. So, if you have time, I ask that you pick a few blogs (perhaps ones you've never been to before?) and stop in for a visit. Leave some encouraging words if you are inspired to do so, but it's not required. I think just being a witness is very powerful. Do this when you can; the circle of support we've formed in this group is a huge part of what will keep us on track through the next twelve weeks.

Ok, I got off topic there a little bit, but that just popped into my head because I just clicked through every blog in this beautiful group of creative souls, looking for artist's date inspiration and these aren't all of them, but here are some great places to start looking for ideas!

I'd love to hear YOUR ideas! Put a link to a post about your artist date here in the comments (when you do yours this week or about last week's date or future dates) or just leave a comment with artist date ideas. I'm going to put an older post here that I wrote for the Artist's Way group last year because it was helpful for me to re-read and it has a bunch of artist date ideas. I hope it's helpful for you too! At the end there are ideas for ad's when you can't leave your house. This can be particularly helpful if you have small children (or you're snowed in or sick) and really can't get out alone. So, any other ideas for at home artist's dates would be great! One of my favorite artist dates to do it home is to have an art picnic, which I wrote about for CaC and I know some of you have tried and enjoyed. Whatever you do, have fun. Invite your creative spirit to play!

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One of the basic tools in The Artist's Way is the Arist's Date (I may refer to artist dates as ads and morning pages as mps.) For some this is no big thing, in fact it may sound wonderful!...What? I get to go out by myself and do something fun? Sweet!!...For others, it's scarier...Go out by myself? How boring. or What will people think of me? or What the heck will I do? or I really don't have the time. Either way, the ads are a wonderful way to get to know your creative self better. That part of you deserves a treat, take yourself out as if you were a hot date. ;-)

What constitutes an Artist's Date? Well, it has to be done alone. You can't take your hubby, your mom, your friends. As for what you do on your date, well, sky's the limit. I recommend being playful, being adventurous and daring and creative, listen to that small voice inside you, ask it what it would most like to do, what sounds like fun? If it helps, schedule your date in advance and write in on your calendar, so you won't forget.

Sure, you could do something artsy, like go to a gallery or a museum (many museums have a free night, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is free from 4-9:45 every Wednesday night. You can often get museum passes at your local library. Galleries are also free and a fun way to see a variety of art.) But you don't need to do something that you "think" is what a creative outing should be. One of my favorite ads was a trip to a local greehouse. I spent about 45 minutes just wandering through the lush greenness, taking in the smells, giggling at the ancient bonsais, admiring the orchids. In the end I walked away with a sad little plant from the clearance area. Turns out it was a prayer plant, very cool synchronicity I thought. Your ads don't need to be expensive, I think almost all of mine were free.

Julia talks about Artist's Dates as being a way to fill your creative well, or stocking the pond. And it's interesting how effective this can be. Plus it's a fabulous self-nurturing tool that everyone could use a little more of.

Need some ideas? How bout: going to a flea market, browsing through gorgeous fabrics at a fabric store, going to a dollar store and buying something silly, going to a stationary store to pick out stickers to decorate your journal with, people watching, take your camera on a walk, take a bubble bath with candles and no reading material, draw in a coloring book, go to a bead store, check out the walking trails around your area and pick a new one to check out, make a chalk drawing outside your home or in a public place...maybe write an inspiring quote, go to a poetry reading, try a new restaurant, see an independent film. The idea is to think about what intrigues you, what fascinates you, and then go explore! What if you're stuck at home? Well, a bath is one of my favorite ways to have a date without leaving the house. But you can get creative with it, look through old photos, go on a treasure hunt in your attic, paint your toenails different colors. Play, explore, get silly, amuse yourself, stock your pond, have fun!

So you see, imagination needs moodling--long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling, and puttering. -Brenda Ueland