The Artist’s Date
I do a lot of daydreaming. I always have. I spend quite a lot of time alone. Even when I was teaching at the college, one of my guilty pleasures was going to a coffee place or (ideally!) a bookstore with coffee to write. When my kids were younger and I was really busy, I often wrote in my minivan at soccer practices…
My guilty pleasures now that I’m not teaching full-time are still writing-with-coffee. Also reading novels (I read a lot of novels…kind of an addiction). That, and meeting a girlfriend to write (over coffee, usually…okay, so coffee is definitely an addiction).
So, shouldn’t I have this Artist’s Date thing in the bag? Don’t I spend plenty of time, already, alone with my inner artist?
No, I don’t. It turns out that the artist’s date shouldn’t be work (even when it is the wonderful work of writing), and it shouldn’t be with other people. It should be play, AND it should get me out of my comfort zone.
Out of my comfort zone? Dang.
(To see Julia Cameron talking about the artist’s date, go to this site: http://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/.)
I have a couple of ideas for artist’s dates. For one thing, I’ve always wished I could draw…but my perfectionist tendencies get in the way. What if I pursued this, playfully, joyfully? Just for an hour or two this week?
images borrowed from http://www.ellenfelsenthal.com/pages/horses1_07.html
I also want to ride a horse, which I have not done in years, in decades.
What would YOU do on an artist’s date?
Bethany,
I love following your blog, and you inspire me more than you’ll ever know. Artists are on my mind too! I just saw this blog post right after I purchased pottery at the student art sale. There is also an exhibit of student work where they are practicing imitation of “masters.” Sketches of van Gogh, Warhol, and da Vinci are on display and I’m struck by the notion of practice by imitation. They are imitating lines that were drawn before them. They are practicing old techniques while trying something new. Some of them tried different colors or shading. Some of them created a different perspective. I’m not sure what the assignment was, but I feel like I had a date with artists today by responding to you and daydreaming about the student work while wishing I could crawl inside that beautiful Ellen photo.
Alyson — SO GOOD to hear from you. I may have to visit the college and see the art for myself.
I’m just watching. But I loved seeing & hearing Julia
Cameron. Now I know why I loved my Cell at the YMCA In NYC – it made me get out and see art – the planetarium, museum and the Met. And the art of people on the subway was thrilling to me and I even got a few to smile at me – and then there was the Phoenix hanging from the ceiling of st John Divine as we walked to the Columbarium to see where my brother in law’s ashes would be interred. We had just come from the funeral and celebration at an Irish pub. Then we walked thru Columbia U where Chrstmas lights on the trees lit our way and I knew then for sure Tim was with the Light and with the soul of the world and
There was a peace as I went down into the subway and Tim’s wife, now widow, walked home to her co-op with her visiting sister.
Perfect!