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I've been pretty hammered over the last few weeks with the day job. It has sapped my creativity and taken my precious time away from my novel writing and this blog. I sorely needed a day off so I went to the brilliant Eumundi markets and then on to Noosa, SE Queensland for an Artist's Date. I also listened to business audios on the 4 hour round trip as I feel the need to keep my entrepreneurial side fed.
This idea comes from Julia Cameron's “The Artist's Way” which is a fantastic book. It is basically some time alone absorbing and refilling your creative well. It can be something entirely different, like a pottery class or a show, or could just be a walk or a new gallery exhibition. Anything that gives your brain some new stimulation and takes you away from your work in progress and your ‘normal' life. It should be alone so you have time to reflect and can be an hour, a day or longer. (I am hankering after a writer's retreat one of these days!)
I made this short video on the beach (1:24). You can hear some wind noise, but you get the idea! What do you do for your Artist's Date?
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1 2 Next »Love your video blogging!
I find that quiet time in nature reinvigorates my creativity. I feel alive and vital when I am in a rainforest or on a river bank. The ideas pop into my mind so easily when I am relaxed and connected to something igger than myself. I try to get into the wild quite regularly, and particularly when I feel myself pulled that way, or my ideas getting sluggish.
You really would love Clarissa Pinkola Estes The Creative Fire. 5 cd's all about the creative cycle. Best thing I have heard or read in the 8 months I've been on this author's journey! http://bit.ly/cLnA98
Hi Gwyn, thanks so much - I shall check that out!
I was faithfully having Artist's Dates for a few months after reading Julia Cameron. And they were so valuable in keeping my spirit creative, and my feelings present and alive. And I also felt much more balanced in my life. I still felt alive when I had to do habitual tasks that usually sunk my creativity. Life of work, and trying to fit in new projects, pushed my Artist Date off my schedule. But I feel I really, really need them again. Thanks for sharing and giving me reason, a reminder to start 'dating' me again.
What a gorgeous place for an Artist's Date! Thank you for sharing it with us - it gave me a real lift even though I can't be there in person! Hope you are able to make more regular use of it in future.
Jennifer