36 Artist Dates You Can Have in Quarantine
If you're going through the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron right now, you might be a little stumped on coming up with ideas for artist dates you can have in quarantine. I know I did, so I sat down and made a list of 36 things you can do for your artist dates, completely quarantine proof.
If you’re not familiar with The Artist's Way, it’s a 12 week course outlined in a book that focuses on getting back in touch with yourself and specifically your creativity.
Don't be fooled by the name though - this book is NOT just for the people who call themselves artists (although Cameron would argue we are all artists). Truly, it is a self help book if I ever saw one. So even if you don't think you're creative, I challenge you to make this your wild card and give it a shot. I think you'll be surprised.
Now, in The Artist's Way Julia has you take one "artist date" a week.
The Artist Date is a once-weekly, festive, solo expedition to explore
something that interests you. The Artist Date need not be overtly
“artistic” — think mischief more than mastery. Artist Dates fire up the
imagination. They spark whimsy. They encourage play. Since art is about the
play of ideas, they feed our creative work by replenishing our inner well
of images and inspiration. When choosing an Artist Date, it is good to ask
yourself, “what sounds fun?” — and then allow yourself to try it.
Julia Cameron
Basically, Julia describes our inner artist as our inner child, and the artist date is essentially a playdate with your inner child. The other rule is that you're supposed to have your artist date alone - just you and your inner child.
But with everything that is going on in the world in the time of a global pandemic, getting out and having dates with yourself isn't as easy as it used to be. I used to like going to little local shops and browsing, or enjoying a fancy drink at a coffee shop with a book.
Now we have to get real creative. To start, I put together a list of 36 artist dates you can have while stuck at home and social distancing.
Even if you aren't reading the Artist's Way or don't think of yourself as an Artist, give some of these a shot. Get back in touch with your creativity - your inner child. It might just bring some joy to you in these bleak times.
36 Artist Dates You Can Have in Quarantine
Artist Dates in Quarantine: The Artist’s Way
Make a mood board or collage wall of things that make you happy.
Learn something new by taking an online course through something like Skillshare.
Have a self portrait session. Get as creative as possible.
Try a new recipe and cook a special meal. Use your nice dishes!
Have a movie date with yourself watching a favorite movie.
Collect flowers on a walk. Just don’t start stealing flowers from your neighbor’s yard lol.
Make a creative tiktok video.
Take artsy photos on your next walk.
Take a relaxing bath and listen to a podcast.
Completely unplug from ALL electronics for at least an hour. Leave your phone in another room so you don’t become tempted.
Have a paint and sip night with yourself using a YouTube tutorial.
Listen to an entire cd or record or tape. Something that isn’t streaming. You might end up listening to something you haven’t heard in a long time. If you literally have nothing but streaming, stream an album you haven’t heard in awhile. Or one you’ve never heard before.
Go for a really long walk. See where it takes you - hopefully somewhere new.
Make a fancy drink. Sit and enjoy it. A fancy drink doesn’t have to mean alcohol. Get creative.
Watch a Ted Talk on YouTube.
Watch a documentary.
Set aside an entire day to just relax and enjoy your time. Play video games, do crafts, movie marathon, sit in your backyard, whatever.
Find something to put sticker all over.
Decorate your car. Make it personal.
Plant something. Inside or out. Grocery stores have plants too.
Have a book date and read for a few hours. Outside if doable. Check out my personal development reading list for inspiration.
Listen to an audiobook and draw what you imagine. We used to do this in grade school when the teacher would read to us.
Make a playlist of all the songs that get you pumped and do a workout to it. Pro-tip: dancing is exercise too.
Grab a notebook and do a spread about anything. Your intentions for the year. How much you love peanut butter. Whatever gets your goat (what does that even mean?).
Read through old diaries.
Go through old photos. Put at least one up somewhere.
Make postcards for friends and family.
Play with an instrument if you have one. If you don’t have one, how else can you make music somehow? A kid’s toy? An app? A website?
Use an app to get creative on Instagram. Some fun ones are Nichi and Meitu
Take something old and make it new.
Collect rocks on your walk and paint them or use them for decor.
Sculpt something. If you don’t have clay you can make homemade play dough.
Make care packages for friends using what you have or can find at the grocery store. Pro-tip: Tea bags work great for this.
Start a journal of favorite quotes and words of wisdom from books, podcasts, movies, etc.
Hang twinkle lights somewhere in the house.
Start a Pinterest board purely of images that make you feel good. Here is mine.
Don't let this time stop you from being creative. In fact, use the time you have to be creative as much as possible! See what comes out of it.
If you try any of these artist dates or have any ideas of your own, be sure to tag me @brittney_kiera_ on Instagram. You can also scroll to the very bottom of this page to see the latest on my feed and link to my account.
Happy creating!