The Artists' Date
What Is An Artists' Date?
The Artist's Date originated with Julia Cameron as one of her basic principles in the book, The Artist's Way.
The idea of an artist's date is to allot yourself a certain block of free, creative time each week. This is a date that you take yourself on. You simply pick some sort of creative endeavor to enjoy as a solo activity.
The artist's date is designed to give you a break, a period of creative relaxation. The purpose is to give your mind a rest and to inspire your creative endeavors. Creativity and play should both be implemented in the types of activities you choose to do for your artist's date.
Downtime and self-care are essential, no matter your vocation. But if you are a person who employs creativity as a means for making a living, or as a hobby or vocation, sooner or later you will dry up of ideas and inspiration. But, by utilizing play and downtime via a fun, less-serious creative activity (that requires minimum effort), you allow for rejuvenation of your creative source.
Play actually manufactures an altered mental state that allows us to drop our inhibitions, to relax, and to inspire ourselves. Used on a weekly basis, artist's dates will aid an individual in generating new ideas and renewed inspiration.
How to Plan & Create Your Artists' Dates
You can make your artist's dates an easy habit to get into by following these simple steps:
1. They must be done at least once a week.
2. It's okay if your artist's dates are childish. The point is to nurture your creativity by taking your inner child on a special date.
3. Pick activities that are fun.
4. The activities you pick should also be relaxing. You aren't looking to add more to your workload. Your dates should allow you to unwind, not vise versa.
5. Your activity should last at least an hour, but you can schedule for longer if your free time allows or if a certain activity requires longer than an hour to undergo.
6. Your dates must be done alone. This will allow you to do whatever you feel like doing without having to worry about what others think, or if others are interested in doing the activity.
7. At the beginning of each month, write a list of fun activities you would like to do. This way you always have a list of things to choose from without having to worry about what to do next.
8. Commit to your weekly artist's date. Each week you should look at your schedule and pen in your artists' date. This will help you stay accountable, and you'll better be able to schedule other responsibilities around your date.
50 Fun Artist Date Ideas
1. Go thrifting. Give yourself a budge of $25 dollars and spend time in a thrift shop looking for treasures.
2. Take a walk in the woods or a nature park and collect interesting rocks.
3. Lay in the grass and watch the sky / clouds.
4. Take yourself on a picnic. Pick somewhere with pretty scenery. Pack your favorite snack.
5. Pick a pretty coloring book and some nice crayons / colored pencils and just relax and color. Write in the margins if you want to.
6. Go shopping for pretty writing materials: a new journal, pens, pencils, etc.
7. Take yourself on a library date. If you don't have a card, apply for one. Spend time browsing books. Visit the childrens' section. Sit down for a while and read.
8. Take a long, relaxing bath. Treat it like a trip to the sauna. Pour some bubbles and take a drink with you. Turn on some relaxing music. Take a book with you to read while you relax.
9. Create a one or two hour writing retreat. Lock yourself in your room. Light a few candles. Make a coffee drink. Choose a theme / writing topic and begin writing.
10. Create your own yoga retreat. Make some warm tea. Turn the lights down low. Light some candles. And do some stretches. Even if you do not do regular yoga, do simple stretches and just clear/calm your mind.
11. Watch a classic movie, something you may not otherwise watch. Make some popcorn or a snack to go with it.
12. Find a recipe book and choose a recipe to cook. Gather the ingredients and cook it to the best of your ability...then enjoy eating it!
13. Take yourself out on a date. Pick a restaurant you've never been to. Order the most popular dish and mindfully eat.
14. Play with a dollhouse. Be a kid. Have fun with it.
15. Get a deck of cards and play some solo card games like solitaire. Cheat if you feel like it, no one's watching!
16. Grab some puzzle books: crossword, sudoku, word finds, etc and enjoy a drink or snack while you play.
17. Do a paint-by-numbers kit.
18. Do a color-by-numbers page.
19. Buy some painting supplies and paint with Bob Ross or any other painting tutorial on YouTube.
20. Have your own scrap-n-sip session by making some yummy coffee and creating some scrapbook pages.
21. Jump on Spotify or YouTube and recreate your teenage Top 20 music playlist!
22. Go to a restaurant or cafe and people watch. Write some poems or journal entries about what you see and overhear.
23. Take a walk in the forest and 'rewild' yourself by picking flowers, picking berries, talking to the trees and birdwatching.
24. Enroll in an online class or self-paced e-course and commit to at least 1 hour a week on completing the course. Some good sites to start with are Coursera, Udemy or Skillshare.
25. Get some supplies and make some greeting cards to give to others or to donate to a medical center.
26. Give yourself a budget of $50 and visit a flea market for some unique window-shopping and interest finds.
27. Buy some supplies and learn to make your own simple body lotion.
28. Go to a body of water with nice scenery (a lake, ocean, river). Find a comfy spot to nature-watch and meditate.
29. Get a set of index cards. Write inspirational messages on each one. Place them in random places all across the city for others to find.
30. Collect some rocks and stones. Paint them any way you like. Then place them in random places all across the city for others to find.
31. Get some old picture books and magazines. Cut out photos and create a collage page. You can even get a blank sketch book and begin an art journal of collages.
32. Use photos, quotes, and images from magazines to create your own vision board. Hang it up somewhere where you will see it everyday.
33. Find an art center, or museum, or historical site and spend a few hours exploring.
34. Be your own sleuth. Pick an unsolved historical crime and dive down the rabbit hole researching and investigating it for yourself. Buy a notebook and take notes. You may even find a new clue!
35. Take up the 100 day challenge and vow to do something creative every single day for 100 days.
36. Go to a park. One fully equipped with swings and a big slide. Enjoy playing with abandon just like you did as a kid.
37. Lay a blanket on the grass or sidewalk after dark and enjoy watching the stars. Listen for crickets. Watch how the moon waxes and wanes among the clouds.
38. Write a list of 20 goals you want to achieve this year, and flesh out a few objectives for how you will reach each goal.
39. Go pick some wildflowers and press them between the pages of your favorite book.
40. Take up reading as a hobby. Buy a reading notebook. Write out reviews and your favorite quotes/excerpts from the books you read.
41. Begin a haiku journal. Write haiku poetry often.
42. Take your old newspapers and magazines and create 'blackout' poetry. Collect them in a folder or binder.
43. Learn to create Artist Trading Cards. Collect stickers, magazine images, photos and more to create unique art cards. Collect them in a binder, display them, or give them away.
44. Take up a spiritual habit like stone work or tarot reading. Study it. Write out your readings and observations. Become a master.
45. Find a neat YouTube channel that you enjoy (something inspiring or educational) and spend a few hours watching videos. Learn something, take notes!
46. Create an account on www.happify.com and start some self therapy courses!
47. Take up the art of personal essay. Write about your life. Share your stories with others, or keep them for your own private notebooks.
48. Begin a themed journal book and work on it consistently. This could be a journal of writing prompts, poetry, favorite song lyrics, favorite quotes, etc.
49. Take up jigsaw puzzles. There's nothing more relaxing than sitting in the quiet, reassembling a beautiful image piece by piece. This can be a very zen experience. There's even special glue you can purchase to keep your picture together after assembling it.
50. Buy a few pretty plants and begin your own patio garden.
These are just 50 wonderful ideas to get you started on some of your own artist's dates. Do you have any of your own ideas? And how do you plan to implement this new habit into your life? Let me know in the comments!
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