Artist’s dates

If you’ve read the Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, you’ll know all about artist dates.

If you haven’t, an artist’s date is a way to fill your creative cup and have some fun along the way. Cameron describes it as “a once-weekly, festive, solo exhibition to explore something that interests you”. Once weekly might sound ambitious but for the 12 weeks of the Artist’s Way, true to my inner nerd, I stuck to it.

In Cameron’s book, an artist’s date is a weekly date with yourself for two hours during which you take yourself on a creative adventure. The idea is that you put aside time to do something purely for fun.

Spring is a great time to discover (or in my case rediscover) artist’s dates. The days are a little warmer, the evenings are getting lighter, daffodils, tulips and bluebells are blooming…I’m a summer baby at heart but I love the promise of spring.

It’s been a while since I’ve taken myself on an artist’s date but I’m planning to kickstart them again with some spring inspired ideas. Here’s my list so far:

• Take my sketchbook to the park and sketch outside

• Paint in the garden

• Do an acrylic pour with a spring colour palette

• Pressed flower art

• Bake fresh bread

• Go on a walk and take photos of spring flowers

• Pack a mini picnic, picnic blanket and a good book

• Try a new local restaurant for lunch

• Plant flowers for the birds and bees

• Go for a walk in the woods and look for wild bluebells

• Have a candlelit dinner outdoors (weather permitting)

• Leave your phone and devices at home and go for a mindful walk

• Pick and dry wild flowers

• Tidy my garden and decorate it with fairy lights

Mine are very much focused on art and food, two of my favourite things. Yours can be anything at all.

Find whatever makes you happy and take some time out to do it. I promise you’ll feel better for it and whatever you choose to do, enjoy!!