The Power of Artist Dates

A couple of years ago, I’d become distanced from my creativity due to the humdrum of everyday life and always trying to get to the end of the never ending to do list. I started to recognise this and decided to read the Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I took a lot away from this book, quite a lot of which I have now, of course, forgotten in my conscious memory at least, so maybe it’s time I revisit it. 

However, a couple of things that have stayed with me:

I spent a week not ingesting any content, just creating, this meant no television, reading, scrolling the internet, listening to podcasts etc. I did have to make one concession and read things in a work context but aside from that I didn’t ingest any content for a whole week. I was forced to either do something active such as create, write, play the piano (something I don’t do well), talk to others, exercise or sit in silence. I found it exhausting but also very freeing to not be bombarded with information and ideas. 

The second was a weekly artist date, the idea of doing something for myself once a week to explore something that interests me. I would love to say I absolutely keep to it but the realities are that it’s a challenge and I have had to find ways of adapting.
For example, this week I really wanted to check out the Northumberland Zoological Park but it was going to take out a whole day of the weekend and I’m already away without my fiancé next weekend. So I dragged him along and he patiently took photos and waited around whilst I had the luxury of some sketching time. It is lovely to do this without the feeling of having to be doing this for someone else or really caring about the end result, it’s unlikely my sketches will see the light of day.

Sometimes, my artists dates are totally none art related. Anything that gives you time to escape the day to day and be exposed to new inspiration does the trick. It could be spending some time out on the water, paddle boarding or sailing or trying my hand at something new.

The key is that you are doing it for pure enjoyment rather than another goal in mind.

Even if you are not an artist, I thoroughly recommend taking this time out for yourself, where you leave responsibilities and to do lists behind and embrace doing something different. Your creativity will thank you for it.

I am always looking for artist date suggestions and would love to hear your ideas either on Instagram or by leaving a comment below.