An artist date is a solo date you go on, by yourself, to fill up your creative reserve. Here are 20 artist date ideas for you to try!
Related: Drinking Alcohol to Boost Creativity – Does It Work?
What is an Artist Date?
I first came across the official term artist date in the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. But I’ve been going on solo artist dates for years before that. But what is an artist date?
An artist date is a date you go on, by yourself, to do something that you enjoy. It can be anything from visiting a museum, to going to a cool second-hand shop, or finding and buying new art books, or taking a walk in the park or by the ocean. The important thing is that you take yourself on some quality time, with yourself.
What this will do is to put you in a more inspired, happier, expansive, and appreciative mindset. All those things helps with allowing creativity. And by exposing yourself to something new other than your ordinary boring everyday routines, you get connected to the more creative, fun, playful, and creative part of yourself.
In a recent book I read (The Monocle Book of Entrepreneurs), multiple artist interviewed said something along the sentiment of:
The best thing you can do to help your creative work, is to spend enough time not working.
And I think that’s exactly what the idea of having regular artist dates are about. To spend enough time not working, that you get inspired, can step out of your usual box, and get in the right energy of creation.
Going on solo dates also increases self-intimacy and self-knowledge. You’ll get to know yourself better. What do you enjoy when you don’t need to take into account anyone else’s wants and needs? What do you think when you have these experiences. And it teaches you to get comfortable being alone, experiencing the world in a way that you want. So that you then can be comfortable expressing those inner things to others, through creative arts.
20 Artist Date Ideas
So, now that you know what an artist date is, here are some artist date ideas for you to try:
- Go for a walk in the nature
- Visit a museum
- Find and buy a new art book
- Discover new music
- Go to the zoo and watch animals
- Play golf
- Go to the movies and see something new
- Try a new recipe
- Read a new book (perhaps in a genre you usually don’t read in)
- Visit a second-hand shop
- Look at nice architecture
- Do something crafts or draw something
- Go to the amusement park
- Visit the ocean
- Visit a new café
- Try something new that you have always wanted to try
- Observe the nature: the clouds, birds, the sound of the wind
- Visit a new geographical place (solo travel or just a new neighborhood)
- Try a new way of moving your body expressively (yoga, figure skating, dancing)
- Go to the library and look at everything that interests you
Other Tips for Boosting Creativity
There are many ways we can help ourselves be more creative. Going or creative artist dates helps a lot, but some other things that have worked for me is:
- Do daily creativity challenges, with no expectation of certain results. It’s to strengthen the creative muscle and to form a habit of creating something everyday so that it becomes second nature.
- If you feel burnt out, don’t be afraid to take a little break and do things that you enjoy (for a day, or two, or perhaps even two weeks).
- Watch and read about other creative people and their journeys. This will help you feel related to, and chances are that you will get inspired by reading about their challenges and how they overcome them.
- Change up your life. New people, new ideas, new environments can all prompt us to think in new ways in our creative work as well. Things that happen in one area of our lives often float into other ones.
- Accept yourself even more. Sometimes the only thing that’s stopping us from actually creating is fear. It can be fear of other people’s judgements or thoughts about what we want to create, or it can be our own fear of who we really are. And the only way to overcome this fear is to practice loving ourselves and accepting ourselves more. Art is a way of self-expression, and we can’t express ourselves if we don’t accept who we are.
- Remind yourself that creativity is the natural state of a thriving human being. We are conscious, aware, intelligent, and alive beings, and it is natural for us to create and expand the world as we know it. You are merely doing what you are meant to be doing.
- Play and have fun in life! I find that when I treat my entire life as something to be enjoyed, I start finding inspiration and beauty everywhere around me and in everything that happens to me. These are the things that fuel my creativity even further. And by having fun in life and acting in a more playful way, you’ll be able to have more fun and be more playful in your creative endeavors as well.
I really hope these tips can help you! And I wish you all the best of luck.