Nurturing Your Inner Artist: Why You Need an Artist’s Date
Last week I went on a fabulous date with a very important person. Read on to find out who …
Life has a way of taking over, doesn’t it? The children are demanding your attention, the housework never seems to end, work piles on more and more demands, and before you know it, there’s no time left for what you really want to do.
That’s why I want to suggest something that might just change the way you nurture your creativity: book a date in your diary with the most important person in your world – yourself. This is what is called an artist’s date.
An artist’s date doesn’t need to be expensive, complicated, or time-consuming. It could be something as simple as a half-hour stroll around your neighbourhood, or it could be a whole day spent exploring a new city, wandering through galleries, or taking in an exhibition. The point is not what you do, but that you carve out intentional time to explore, observe, and feed your creative soul – alone.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Take a mindful walk around your local streets. Pause to notice the details most people miss – the brickwork on a building, the curve of a road, the weeds sprouting through cracks, the stamens in a blossom, or the texture of tree bark.
- Visit an art exhibition or pop into a cinema to watch something that sparks your imagination.
- Lose yourself in the shelves of a bookshop.
- Hop on a boat, a bus or a train to somewhere new and unfamiliar.
The truth is, it doesn’t matter what you choose. What matters is giving yourself permission to step out of the daily grind and into a space where your inner artist can breathe, play, and grow. Take a camera, a notebook, a pencil and paper or even record some sounds!
At Façade Academy, my ethos has always been to encourage creativity – not by handing you designs to copy, but by helping you to unlock your own ideas, experiment with new approaches, and develop your unique style. We all have the capacity to become creative! Creativity is like a muscle: it grows stronger when we nurture it, and it withers when neglected.
Just as great writing is fuelled by wide reading, artistic creativity is fuelled by observation. Make it a habit to observe and note things around you. The more visual experiences you notice and collect – the colours, textures, shapes, and patterns – the richer your inner “library” becomes. And when the time comes to create, you’ll be amazed at the ideas that spring forth from that storehouse of inspiration.
So go ahead – plan your next artist’s date. Do whatever it takes to carve out that time for yourself. Ultimately, it will benefit more than just you – I promise! Your family and friends will notice! When did you last do something just for you? Give yourself that gift of time, curiosity, and play. Your inner artist is waiting – what will you do to nurture yourself?
P.S. My date was with myself! I visited an amazing sculpture exhibition at Clearwell Caves – one of the best collections I’ve ever seen, totally inspiring!
