Hi Reader,

In 2021, I went on an Artist Date EVERY WEEK!

While completing Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, I found myself googling lists of ‘artist date ideas’. But an Artist Date is about so much more than just the activity completed.

In these YouTube videos, I tell the tale of what I did each time, and what made each date so special.

If you’re just starting The Artist’s Way, follow along with The Art Life’s week-by-week series, beginning with this 7-minute mini episode!

Artist Date Ideas:

Artist Date Ideas:

My 52 Artist Dates

1. ‘Chapter 48’ – Wrote a song about Mansfield Park
2. Compulsive collage – dropped everything when British Vogue arrived, and collaged!
3. A Race to Bubble Tea – channeled RunDisney and jogged to the bubble tea place to buy bubbles for my Pandora-inspired dinner
4. WandaVision Walk – wandered at random and listened to the Everything is Super WandaVision recap
5. Outdoor library in the Sims – designed an outdoor library in Del Sol Valley
6. PINK THING from grams new moon walk – bought myself a cotton candy-topped vegan treat
7. BTS Week One – set aside time to start Teacher Katie’s BTS course 
8. High Vibe Honey – started Gala Darling’s High Vibe Honey free trial 
9. Spruced home cinema – decluttered the den and made room for the cinema snacks
10. Bike to Morningside – dusted off my bike, inflated the tires, and figured out how to get across town, for the sake of almond croissants
11. evermore singing walk and song composition – walked across town singing evermore aloud; wrote original songs on the walk home
12. Reading Lorrie’s Twitter – since I left social media, I missed @_LorrieKim_ on Twitter! Made time to catch up on her feed.
13. Declutter wardrobe + new town nail polish walk (songwriting, iced coffee) – assessed my wardrobe, coveted nail polish, went to buy it right away, wrote songs on the walk, and got a spontaneous iced coffee
14. Fearless meadows walk – when Fearless came out, I walked to the Meadows while listening, sat on a park bench thinking to myself hey isn’t this easy
15. Reading letters/doing work outside – sat on a blanket in the garden on a sunny day
16. Letters on the Lawn Round 2 – Wrote letters and did some collaging in the park on yet another sunny day
17. Grab Bag Face It And Flourish – made a list of nagging tasks I’d been meaning to do, cut them out on slips of paper, pulled them out of a hat and did chore roulette!
18. Tigerlily Vacation – booked a night at a fancy local hotel, with nothing on the agenda! (As told on The Art Life)
19. Modern Standard planning – walked across town to sit in at Modern Standard for the first time
20. Theme Park Shoes + Olivia – walked while listening to Sour on release day, tried on theme park shoes 
21. Fearless preshow cleaning – before hosting a virtual Art Party, played through Fearless and tidied
22. Armstrongs, lovecrumbs, Godiva – vintage browsing + cafe fun (made a YouTube video of this one while it was happening!)
23. CD (Macy Gray) of the week at Elvis Shakespeare – finally went inside Elvis Shakespeare and bought a cd!
24. Make Bagels – for my self-declared New York Week, I made bagels from scratch
25. (OOPS I FORGOT) – no artist date this week! gasp!
26. Writing at CAT instead of the tour – visited the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales, and claimed some alone time to write in the gardens
27. John Lewis + Lululemon – went shopping for fitness clothes
28. Speak, Okinawa at Toppings – had been meaning to sit in for free tea at Toppings so I did!
29. Writing at Artisan Roast, playing planner, etc – went to a cafe that I go to with friends, and did writing instead
30. Letter-writing at Fortitude – went to a cafe where I usually write and wrote letters to friends instead
31. Tarot for myself – took time to do a big tarot spread for me
32. Shopping at treen + Harvey Nichols – browsed some fancy shops and tried on clothes
33. Harvey Nichols personal shopping – booked a free personal styling session at Harvey Nichols and tried on so much designer
34. Neopets, Defunctland, + Molly – played NEOPETS, watched Disney videos on YouTube
35. South Side – While in Glasgow, took the train to South Side and explored
36. Dress up in the Sims part 2 – made my Sim self, dressed her up in my favourite outfits the game has to offer
37. Totty Rocks – finally went to this boutique I’d been meaning to browse; got a cool blouse
38. Porthmadog planning – claimed solo time on holiday to do my planning
39. Artisan Roast secret outdoor bar – discovered the little outdoor bar and stood with my coffee there
40. RCT Scenario + Water Park – set up a scenario and water park on the Rollercoaster Tycoon Touch mobile app
41. Bought Autumn at Toppings, started at Spry + pickles – bought the first novel in Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet, started reading it at a fancy wine bar with some fancy pickles
42. PSL doughnut @ Linton – checked out a cafe I’d been meaning to try, found out they stock my favourite vegan doughnuts
43. Rick Devens, CVS, + Sister’s neighbourhood – while in Chicago, listened to Rick Devens recap the new Survivor episode on Rob Has a Podcast, while wandering Sister’s neighbourhood and exploring CVS
44. Newbury Comics/Fanueil Hall – while in Boston visiting my parents, I revisited my teenage tradition of a weekly music shop at Newbury Comics 
45. Life Story kitchen cupboard org – bought beautiful storage boxes and reorganised my kitchen pantry
46. Abstract coaster doodles – played with a visual art project I dreamed up, to make doodles inspired by rollercoaster track layouts
47. Dining map + Selling Sunset Day – took time to make a map of favourite Edinburgh restaurants for my friends who were in town, and set aside an entire day for watching the new season of Selling Sunset
48. Guitar-ing in acoustical wardrobe – when all the furniture was out of the wardrobe room for carpet replacement, I went in with my guitar and enjoyed the amazing acoustics
49. Dress shopping + Little Women Christmas song – tried on dresses in boutiques, wrote a Little Women Christmas song while I walked
50. Future of Home + magic vintage at Pascal & Co – went to Custom Lane to check out their exhibition on the Future of Home. On the way there, discovered a new vintage shop on Leith Walk
51. evermore guitar-through – played and sang through the entire evermore album
52. Mug shopping at Fruitmarket + Dovecot (calendar) – went to art gallery gift shops looking for new mugs. Didn’t find any, but I bought an astrological wall calendar!

What do you do on Artist Dates? Write back and let me know!

P.S. For weekly 1-minute Calls to Adventure, join me in Everyday Wonderland :)