http://www.amazon.com/The-Artists-Way-Julia-Cameron/dp/1585421464
In her book The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron insists that we need weekly artist dates alone to court our inner artist. I have done these, and they are marvelous for boosting creativity. But I have also taken my family and friends along on dates and gotten oodles of inspiration that way, too.
At the beginning of this year, I completed two New Year’s rituals together with my family and one alone. My inner artist loved them all.
First, we all went to the Nisqually Nature Preserve, a place I written about before but have never visited in the winter. If you haven’t been there in the cold, you may have missed a few birds. They apparently come out to be seen when the temperature drops.
We saw herons, a bald eagle, a woodpecker along with the usual crows, seagulls and ducks.
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- The circled heron photo credit goes to my son Kieran and his ability to take photos through a view finder.
Later, I took my youngest son to see the trains at the Washington History Museum. I fell down on the blogging job and didn’t take pictures but I was impressed by how much my four year old loved the whole place from the trains to the other exhibits. A museum full of things you can do with children playing and learning is always a grand place to start a new year. Inner artists love this kind of play.
Finally, I went to Starbucks in Sumner and spent an hour with my headphones on (it’s loud there!) mapping out my goals for 2015. It may not sound like a thrilling date, but alone time with a notebook, music, and a cup of tea is my kind of fun.
Overall, I’m happy with the creative beginnings I chose. My inner artist must be, too, because the word output has been good so far this year and my joy level is up.
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Great blog. Have Kieran look up “digiscoping”. It’s a whole skill in itself, and fascinating to do. I believe Swarovski has a great tutorial on their website. Excellent pictures using an inexpensive digital and a (cheap) spotting scope.
Will do! Thanks for the tip. 🙂