Artist Dates

Copyright 2010 Valerie Jones

I am a firm believer in artist dates.  What is an artist date, you say?  Julia Cameron describes it best in The Artist's Way, "An artist date is a block of time, perhaps two hours weekly, especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist.  In its most primary form, the artist date is an excursion, a play date that you preplan and defend against all interlopers.  You do not take anyone on this artist date but you and your inner artist, a.k.a. your creative child.  That means no friends, spouses, children - no taggers of any stripe."

Oh, I've tried the tag-a-longs...it doesn't work, trust me.  They will distract you more than you think.  Some of my favorite artist dates have been taking a nature walk, going to art galleries, going shopping alone (yes, shopping), a photography class, and going to the bookstore.  You might say, "a photography class has people".  Oh, but I got to sneak away alone and snap photos of nature at the wonderful land of Woolaroc!

A great artist date is this weekend at the Price Tower Family Arts Festival in downtown Bartlesville, Oklahoma.   If you don’t live around these parts, be on the lookout for such events in your neck of the woods.

Artist dates have a way of refilling the well.  They unlock creativity buried deep within us.  I'll write more on refilling that inner well next week on Thoughtful Thursday.