Artist Dates List

I am working through The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, a book to help people rediscover their inner creativity and address what prevents them from achieving their artistic goals. One of her core recommendations is to do “artist dates” every week. However, I feel like she does not adequately define what an artist date is. It was only through searching for ideas online that I felt like I came around to realizing what she meant. I suppose I would define an artist date as a vaguely creative activity where you intentionally and wholeheartedly engage in some form of new and fun experience. Here are a list of my favorite examples, cobbled together from searching on Google:

  1. Go to an art store (you don’t have to buy something, but you could buy something you haven’t used before)
  2. Go outside with art supplies and do something with them
  3. Document the experience of a walk outside with a camera
  4. Check out CD’s at a library
  5. Start an artist’s blog
  6. Visit a creative shop unrelated to your craft (examples: fabric store, music store, etc.)
  7. Plant something
  8. Go through your books. Pick some to read and some to donate
  9. Spend $5 at a thrift store
  10. Write a letter to an old friend
  11. Give yourself aa beauty treatment of some sort (paint your nails, do a face mask, etc.)
  12. Sit on a swing and lean back as far as you can. Think of poetry while you do this
  13. Spend $10 at Home Depot (or any hardware store) and create something with what you buy
  14. Choose a fantasy mentor. Read their books, watch their videos, learn about their life as an artist. Let them inspire you
  15. Try an all-day drawing marathon. You could participate in a sketch crawl event
  16. Favorite artists on Etsy and begin a conversation with them about their work
  17. Create a self-portrait
  18. Take a walk while listening to someone else’s playlists
  19. Spend a day naked
  20. Write a letter to the person you plan to be in 10 years
  21. Write a letter to your parents. Tell them what you are grateful to them for. Send it
  22. Read a library book on a topic you know only a little about but sounds fascinating
  23. Take a self-portrait photo every day for a week
  24. Take a creative course of some sort
  25. Watch a movie you thought you’d hate
  26. Make a list of things you love about yourself
  27. Make a list of things that make you happy
  28. Find a new, fun creative blog to read
  29. Have a complete day of silence
  30. Go to a neighboring town and poke around
  31. Create an accomplishment board
  32. Create work from things in the recycle bin (trash?)
  33. Read a children’s book
  34. Read poetry out loud
  35. Visit a garden and plan your dream garden in your mind
  36. Rent all the movies your favorite actor/actress is in and watch them
  37. Make architectural sketches in a historical area
  38. Have a picnic
  39. People watch
  40. Have fancy tea and use your nice dishes
  41. Read an old journal
  42. Read or watch things about your favorite artist (especially biographical)
  43. Finger paint
  44. Take a walk and look for items of a particular shape. Take photos of them
  45. Go to an old graveyard. Stay long enough to get spooked
  46. Play at a park
  47. Write notes, letters, and cards to love ones. Send them
  48. Go for a sunrise walk
  49. Pick a tree and write down everything you observe about it
  50. Make a flower crown
  51. Take a long walk and get lost
  52. Dance in the rain
  53. Do something that scares you
  54. Do something you loved as a child
  55. Spend a day meditating
  56. Paint your own body
  57. Paint rocks and leave them for others to find
  58. Blow bubbles
  59. Listen to chill music while lying down and do nothing
  60. Collect leaves
  61. Climb a tree
  62. Try some origami
  63. Watch inspirational TED talks
  64. Write down 10 people who inspire you. Write down why. Write down something you could do inspired by them. Do it.
  65. Do karaoke with a brush or lint roller as a mic for an hour
  66. Look through old photos
  67. Kick piles of leaves/play in the snow (season dependent)
  68. Listen to the audiobook of a novel you love
  69. Buy a toy and play with it
  70. Read something with a viewpoint diametrically opposed to your own
  71. Read some political science texts. Write down thoughts.
  72. Go window shopping without a wallet
  73. Learn how to something new on YouTube
  74. Create blackout poems
  75. Invent an alter ego for the day
  76. Read the dictionary and learn some new words
  77. Photomanipulate a photo of your face
  78. Have a midnight feast
  79. Listen to foreign music
  80. Buy candy, try out new chocolate
  81. Go to a park and observe how kids play
  82. Dress up and have a tea party with 3 imaginary people, dead or alive
  83. Make some bad art

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