Discussion: The Artist‘s Way - renewing your creative energy

[mekare]

So, I‘ve heard of this book for long time but never got round to check it out of a library (my current one doesn‘t have it and interloan is reserved for academic books only). So I got the audiobook since that is what I can most easily fit into my day.

ETA: I forgot to mention the full title: Julia Cameron - The Artist‘s Way, first published in 1992

I have a couple of questions after having listened to the first chapter:

1. Has anyone here ever read/worked with the whole book?

While the tools sound useful, the time commitment per day and per week seems pretty daunting.

2. How do you recharge your creative energies?

The idea that I need to take a break after a challenge/deadline/larger piece with something simpler or less stressful wasn‘t new to me, but the idea of doing this very regularly somehow made me go: „huh“. Cameron compares our creative energy reservoir to a pond with big, small and medium fish (art ideas). We need to refill it regularly.

Here is the passage from the book:

Overtapping the well, just like overfishing the pond, leaves us with diminished resources. We fish in vain for the images we require. Our work dries up and we wonder why, “just when it was going so well.“ The truth is that work can dry up because it was going so well.
As artists we must learn to be self-nourishing. We must become alert enough to consciously replenish our creative resources as we draw on them - to restock the trout pond, so to speak.

Her idea is the “active pursuit of images to refresh our artistic reservoirs“. So, fun, mystery, magic, delight, doing what interests you. Changing known routes to work, or engaging the senses is also mentioned, as well as repetitive regular actions (rhythm being the key) like cooking, knitting, needlework, showering or driving.

What do you do?

Comments

[marycrawford]

I like the idea of having an artist's date with yourself, from that book - I haven't done it consistently but I always want to.

[mekare]

Would you like to share some examples of what you did on those artist‘s dates? I realise they are highly individual events, but I am not so clear on what they entail. Does making art count? Or is it simply looking at art/nature etc.?

[marycrawford]

For me, it's usually either going somewhere and drawing - urban sketching, if you will, or plein air - or going on a museum trip by myself. So it's either for seeing new things or seeing them and drawing them.

[mekare]

Thank you for sharing!

Artist‘s Dates in Lockdown

[mekare]

I went to the website of the book and found this free pdf with ideas to replenish creative energies (artist‘s dates) while in quarantine:

https://www.theartistswaybook.com/_files/ugd/6cfc92_8c474462d5b34d84aac88dfb5dc38e64.pdf

Re: Artist‘s Dates in Lockdown

[minoanmiss]

thank you for that link and this whole post!

[writedragon]

I've dipped my toes in and out of this book for years, and find much of it useful (especially 'artist dates'). Be aware that it has a spiritual sort of bent as it goes along, which may or may not be to your liking depending on how you roll. I don't do morning pages, as my life is basically insane, but again the idea behind it seems valid and a worthwhile practice for those people who can do it. I do keep a daily gratitude practice and recommend that to anyone.

Alternating types of creative endeavors is incredibly helpful (I move between crafting, writing, gardening, sewing and needle arts, art journaling and drawing, hiking + travel, cooking, digital art + vidding, and oddly enough -- decluttering/home care). When one of these just won't budge, it can often help to pick up something different and just go with that for awhile. It makes for a rich and interesting life, too.

Another book that I like is called "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield, which also has some woo elements but is very thought provoking.

[mekare]

Re your gratitude practice that sounds like a doable thing. And the idea of alternating is something I‘ve been doing seasonally, I do more knitting in the colder months, for example.
I find decluttering very satisfying, and imaginingnew places to put things once spaces have been cleared is definitely something creative.

[yhlee]

Dropping in - so, I have done the entire book and parts of it were kind of intense. I don't regret doing it, but I probably would not do the full experience again, as opposed to cherry-picking the parts that I felt were most helpful to me. Agreed with writedragon that the "spiritual" angle is very YMMV.

I'm primarily a writer so the morning pages were not too bad, although time-consuming. The part of the book/course that I found toughest was the week where you don't read at all (or as little as possible) - I think it's called "reading deprivation." It was hard and miserable and while I appreciate what I got from it, I don't want to do it again. :p

[mekare]

Reading deprivation sounds miserable. And the time commitment of he morning pages (while I appreciate the idea behind them) is really not feasible at the moment. I have been playing with the idea of reducing the amount of pages ;-)

[alias_sqbr]

I tried it like 15 years ago, and found it sort of helpful for a while but ran out of momentum.

The one thing I got a lot out of was the artist's pages, since I had exactly the kind of writer's block they help with, but those didn't help my visual art at all and I can imagine it being annoying if you're not also a writer.

The spiritual stuff rubbed me the wrong way, and in general it made a lot of assumptions about the reader's issues and needs that often didn't apply to me, eg it assumed the reader had a major issue with having been told not to do art by parents etc, when my parents always encouraged me. Obviously no book can work for everyone, but I think I'd have been less annoyed if it had been less certain of it's assumptions.

Overall, asides from the pages I've gotten as much help out of like...tumblr art memes.

[mekare]

in general it made a lot of assumptions about the reader's issues and needs that often didn't apply to me, eg it assumed the reader had a major issue with having been told not to do art by parents etc,

You just put your finger on something that was bothering me as well. My parents were also supportive of my art (up to a point) so that hasn‘t been the problem, like in the many examples in the book.

Re the spiritual stuff, that doesn‘t bother me so much.

[seleneheart]

I have never heard of this book. But the excerpt makes complete sense. I guess I recharge by playing video games or diving into a book for a while. One thing I do when I have an itch to draw but nothing specific in mind is to do some Zentangles. They are rhythmic and soothing.

[mekare]

Oh, yes Zentangles or automatic drawing are so good! I did one two nights ago and it was so freeing to just dodle on the page.

[mific]

I'm afraid I can't handle long, serious books, but this is a great observation.

[mekare]

Hah, I‘ve seen that one on Tumblr at some point, and yes, it‘s true. It doesn‘t really tell me how to recharge though. ;-)

[amberdreams]

I’m with micfic - I rarely read non fiction/serious books, and I also find a lot of self help advice tomes annoying, so I doubt I’d get far with this book. But I’ve picked up hints and tips all around, and generally a pick’n’mix approach seems to suit me.
I’m learning all the time, so trying things from YT videos, doing a sketch booking class which pushes me out of my comfort zone, along with the variety of fandom challenges seem to keep me going. I have stopped writing though, and would like to return to that sometime.
I’m thinking maybe the fact I stopped going to the gym actually made writing more difficult, because that down time, when there are no distractions from tv, internet etc, did used to be a very fertile time for coming up with ideas for my stories.

[fred_mouse]

I've poked at it, and picked up a cheap second hand copy a few years ago, but still haven't read it.