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Artist’s Dates

Art Supplies signNeed some suggestions? Here are just a few ideas for artist dates. Want to add to this list? Post a comment below and I’ll be in touch! Thank you.

  • Design your “I am an Artist” business or calling card. Photocopy it on card stock. Keep some in your purse or wallet and watch recipients’ faces light up when you hand them out.
  • Travel to a pick-your-own flower farm and build a bouquet.
  • Browse cookbooks & magazines; select a new recipe to try. Prepare and serve elegantly.
  • Go to a coffee shop/cafe or any public thoroughfare and write the story of a stranger.
  • Read the Arts & Entertainment section of the local newspaper. Pick 1 event to attend that is out of your usual comfort zone.
  • Rearrange a room in your home for a new perspective.
  • Make a collage with a personal theme. Sign & date the back for future reference.
  • Watch the director’s commentary on a favorite movie’s ‘Special Features’ (DVDs).
  • Go to a fabric store and browse. Purchase a few “Fat Quarters” for color inspiration.
  • Go to a farm stand and take in the beauty of fresh produce.
  • Sign up for a group dance class and learn a new step.
  • Go to a music store and listen to bits of music on headphones.
  • Visit a bead shop. Take $10 to spend. Make a bracelet, necklace, earrings or beautiful little dish display of your purchases.
  • Visit a museum and spend time walking around, looking and absorbing.
  • Go to an artist’s studio, or a building with many studios, and browse and look.
  • Explore new scents at the perfume counter of a department store. Discover a new scent. Make a purchase.
  • Go to a craft store. Select a new technique or craft to try. Purchase the materials and go home and try your new craft that very same day.
  • Travel to an out-of-town exhibit.
  • Build a table-top water garden.
  • Find a live music performance and attend. Pay attention to your thoughts as you listen to the music.

5 thoughts on “Artist’s Dates”

  1. Pingback: My daily Vitamin “N” | My Artful Life
  2. snydeen says:
    October 2, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    Loved these! had to print them out and add them to my hope chest and/or calendar! Thanks for the ideas!

    Reply
  3. Author says:
    May 18, 2008 at 4:01 am

    What an inspirational list – I hope you don’t mind but i’d like to write my own for my blog.

    I will definately be trying some of yours too. 🙂

    Reply
  4. Hunter says:
    April 16, 2008 at 10:42 am

    You are too cool. I love those ideas. I’m a recovering blocked artist and just having a fit over these techniques from Julia Cameron. I have been blocked for three whole years and have been staring at the rough draft of my first novel, not being able to do a second draft. Anyway, this is too much information, but I appreciate you giving all those wonderful suggestions. Best wishes!

    Reply
  5. Patti Friestad says:
    July 15, 2007 at 4:03 pm

    I have never “been here” before……

    Reply

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lisa_allen_artist

Joyspotting enthusiast. Blogging at LemonadeandSeashells.com

Morning thread work has been a favorite way to sta Morning thread work has been a favorite way to start a day since I was a kid. My first sewing lesson was at age 4 or 5, when my Aunt Mary let me help hand stitch a flannel bed jacket for my new baby sister. My impatient grandmother tried to teach me how to knit when I was 5. The instructions didn’t stick but I figured it out on my own after falling in love with mini skeins of angora at the 5 & 10 store (remember those?!), and immediately went into headband production! One after another, all in garter stitch. For me, stitching in quiet solitude is a form of meditation. A perfect setup for the day. #embroidery #mornings
I am determined to finish this story panel sooner I am determined to finish this story panel sooner rather than later. Started during #frenchgeneralatwarmbrookbarn in class led by @suzettesmarttextiles , I am having fun riffing on the idea of home. Today it meant a front garden of beach roses. #embroidery #dailyart #dailycreating
Thanks to @jonehallmark and @twohandspaperie I’ve Thanks to @jonehallmark and @twohandspaperie I’ve been introduced to paper cutting. Playing with combining pretty paper cuts with watercolor backgrounds. #2&3&5are Jone’s designs, my snips. #1&4 are my first attempts at branching out on my own. #dailyart #weekendlearning #papercuts
Sunday painting session with @innerpeaceartstudio Sunday painting session with @innerpeaceartstudio . The prompt was painted blobs. Despite cat #1 looking like a jazzed up potato, I could not stop! At some point in the flow I got the idea to paint some of the cats of my childhood. In the winter we burned paper trash in the fireplace to supplement what served as central heat in our very old house on Nantucket. Our (many!) cats and kittens would join us, huddled on the bricks to warm themselves, too. This funny little painting feels like the beginning of that writing project a couple of friends have been nudging me to start. Here’s looking at you @dianelesbecquets and @bettinacaserta ! What a fun — and surprising — day of painting. #artforwellness #watercolor #cats_of_instagram #memoir
Stitching under a half moon in Vermont. It’s the f Stitching under a half moon in Vermont. It’s the final night of #frenchgeneralatwarmbrookbarn ‘26 when it’s tradition to stitch into the wee hours. #collage #embroidery #crafting #vermont
Happy chaos. Storytelling with fabric. #frenchgene Happy chaos. Storytelling with fabric. #frenchgeneralatwarmbrookbarn #vermontlife #sewing #embroidery
Morning sky watch. #porchlife #vermontlife #french Morning sky watch. #porchlife #vermontlife #frenchgeneralatwarmbrookbarn
“Gardening in no-man’s land”. Morning painting pro “Gardening in no-man’s land”. Morning painting prompt: article in Boston Globe about Maine’s prison system. #dailyart #hortitherapy #garden #prisonreform #watercolor
Finding flow with happy colors and unrestrained br Finding flow with happy colors and unrestrained brushstrokes. Best relaxation ever. Love the dense hues of @kuretakejapan paints. In search of a better paper that will tolerate multiple layers of water and paint. #healingart #artasmedicine #yourbrainonart #ilovecolor #dailyart
Leaf study / after-dinner painting. #dailyart #wat Leaf study / after-dinner painting. #dailyart #watercolor #naturestudy #learning #recoveringperfectionist
Sunday collage. #paperpaintpen #collage #weekendvi Sunday collage. #paperpaintpen #collage #weekendvibes #circles #dailyart
“A Mother’s Story” told in four walls with needle, “A Mother’s Story” told in four walls with needle, thread and memory bits and found objects. These four walls are an interpretation of my mother’s life experience. The cloth houses were a craft workshop project, intended as decorative objects. Hand stitching is like a silent moving meditation for me. The motion of the hand stitching was the spark that launched this piece. So caught up was I with the storytelling bug that I stayed up stitching until I had completed two of these ‘memoir houses’.
Morning harvest. Unbelievably delicious. Feeling l Morning harvest. Unbelievably delicious. Feeling lucky. #homegrown #homegrownfood #peaches #grapes #fresh
A homegrown peach is a wonderous treat. #august #p A homegrown peach is a wonderous treat. #august #peach #freshfruit #homegrown #eatingclean
Dressing up the office. Freshly cut from my garden Dressing up the office. Freshly cut from my garden this morning. A summertime joy. #gardenerofinstagram #zinnia #cutflowergarden #officedecor #pink
The family that vacations together, crafts togethe The family that vacations together, crafts together. #tiedye #retrocraft #makingmemories❤️ #ilovemyfamily #vacation
Hot days are better with a garden filled with zinn Hot days are better with a garden filled with zinnias. And I love how easy they are to grow from seed. #inmygardentoday #gardensofinstagram #pink #zinnia #joyspotting
Susan’s patio garden. Drawing and visiting, visiti Susan’s patio garden. Drawing and visiting, visiting and drawing, celebrating her new book, “Nearly Native A Nantucket Story of Adoption, Love and Luck.” Not to mention our friendship that dates back to 4th grade, when my family made the island our home. We made stamps with pliable erasers and found impressionable surfaces on her patio to ink. The green ‘dots’ in first pic were made by pressing the putty eraser onto a decorative metal shelf.
Learning how to watercolor adds new possibilities Learning how to watercolor adds new possibilities to my favorite season. Here, today’s attempt at iris, thanks to instruction by @crystaltanart , all the way from Australia.
#august #sunflowers #garden #lovemygarden #summer #august #sunflowers #garden #lovemygarden #summer
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