The Artist’s Way – Resources and Whatnot

The Basic Principles

  1. Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy; pure creative energy.
  2. There is an underlying, in-dwelling creative force infusing all of life — including ourselves.
  3. When we open ourselves to our creativity we open ourselves to the creator’s creativity within us and our lives.
  4. We are, ourselves, creations. And we, in turn, are meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves.
  5. Creativity is [the universe’s] gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to [the universe].
  1. The refusal to be creative is self-will and is counter to our true nature.
  2. When we open ourselves to exploring our creativity, we open ourselves to [the universe].
  3. As we open our creative channel to the creator, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected.
  4. It is safe to open ourselves up to greater and greater creativity.
  5. Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity.

“Large changes occur in tiny increments.”

16 Offbeat Artist Date Ideas

Write a monologue from the POV of an appliance in your house.

Go to a thrift store and put together an outfit for a fictional alter ego.

Buy a bag of balloons and draw different emotions on them.

Visit a cemetery and invent backstories for five headstones.

Create a museum exhibition in your house of everyday objects. Write placards.

Find a random YouTube tutorial (e.g., how to yodel) and work on it for an hour.

Buy a single weird item at a hardware store and build a shrine for it.

Go to a pet store and draw portraits of the animals, but as mythological beasts.

Narrate and record an audio tour of your own childhood.

Find a junk drawer (yours or someone else’s) and make a mini sculpture from what you find.

Record yourself making up a children’s story on the spot.

Go to a sporting event and draw what it feels like instead of what it looks like.

Attend a local Meetup group totally unrelated to your life.

Fill an entire notebook with lists of things you’ll never do.

Stand somewhere public and pretend you’re seeing Earth for the first time.

Make a “taxonomy of smells” from your kitchen or garden.

“Give yourself permission to be a beginner.”

A Few Relatively Normal Lists of Artist Date Ideas

This list comes up first whenever you search for Artist Date ideas, so it must be good
Here's a list from a seemingly magical place called The Seattle Artist's Way Center
And this list, from an artist named Stephanie Scott, is organized into smart categories like Artist Dates you can do for Free, 20 Minute Artist Dates, and even Artist Dates for When You're Stuck at Home.

“Leap, and the net will appear.”