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| h/t Corcoran Gallery Washington, DC 2014 |
Research question:
Will regularly planned artist dates spark my creativity?
Influence my mood? Increase my creative productivity?
Hypothesis: Julia Cameron has built a very successful
platform working with all types of artists to nurture their creativity and remove blocks to their productivity. One of her basic tenants is regular artist dates where the
hopeful creative plans activities to feed their artistic side. Based on this
research I would expect to discover enhanced creative energy, improved mood,
and increased productivity in creative pursuits.
Method: Planned artist dates were conducted once a
week, for four weeks in the month of March.
There were a total of five dates-- one date was virtual and
combined with a real life date. Four
were within the Oklahoma City Metro area, and one was in Washington, D.C.
Measurement: Subjective account of creative energy and
mood. Creative productivity measured by
word count and tangible creative output.
Results: This was
a fun experiment! My creative energy was enhanced by the artist dates, and so
was my overall mood. I put a lot of
thought into each date and found myself anticipating the event throughout the
week. My creative productivity yielded
mixed results: My word count was down (2,003
in February and 1743 in March), but my photography was up- 30 pictures in
February (all with phone camera) 102 pics in March (66 with digital camera/30
phone), plus revamping the bookshelf, and an acrylic canvas.
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| Sneaked Exhibition Photo - Artist Date Paparazzi 2014 |
Conclusion: The
artist dates validated my creativity and increased my sense of well-being. It is possible that the mostly visual dates motivated
me to express my creativity visually therefore using my camera to capture the
images.What are the results
of your artist dates? This research
subject (me) will continue artist dates and plan to explore this topic further in
May through experiential dates about the written word -- with the addition of “morning
pages” another foundation of The Artist’s Way.
I agree making dates to focus on creativity is very beneficial. Sort of like putting on the calendar when you're going to exercise - sure one can do it without calendering it, but it feels more like an official commitment to have it scheduled in.
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