Summer's Coming
In January, I posted about The Magic of Morning Pages, a practice offered by Julia Cameron in her ever popular book The Artist’s Way.
Now, just in time for summer, I’m sharing her other core practice – the idea of an artist’s date. With yourself.
In Julia’s words:
The Artist Date is a once-weekly, festive, solo expedition to explore something that interests you. The Artist Date need not be overtly “artistic” — think mischief more than mastery. Artist Dates fire up the imagination. They spark whimsy. They encourage play.
I used to be good about my weekly dates. Finding the time is always hard, but every time I took an hour or two with intentionality, I filled up. Like someone had put air back in the deflated balloon of my day.
What if we approached summer as a time for play and creativity, like we did when we were kids? Schedule time for your artist’s date every week, even if you don’t know yet what you’ll do.
Here are some dates I plan to go on…
Taking an online art class (if I can draw birds and flowers, you can too!)
Enjoying the sunset on an evening walk (So simple, and try not to double task w/ a podcast or phone call)
Visiting an independent bookstore like Yu & Me Books. Here’s a list of stores by state.
Hiking in a forest canopy (Especially lovely and cooling on a hot summer day)
I hope you’ll find the time to nurture your creativity in the coming months. Please share your artists’ dates with me in the comments or email me directly. Let’s do this together!
S.