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