An Artist Date: Collage Your Creative Dream (And a Starbucks Giveaway!)
by Cathy Baker @CathySBaker
There�s little doubt that I�m a Julia Cameron fan. Her book The Artist�s Way impacts my daily creative process. In a previous post, Inviting Your Creative Self on a Date on The Write Conversation, I shared a section of her book that speaks of Artist Dates. Julia asks her students to schedule one Artist Date per week.
I tell students to seek mystery, not mastery, on their dates. I urge them to explore with childlike wonder rather than adult intellect. Artist Dates are intended to be fun.- Julia Cameron
One of her Artist Date ideas involves creating and designing a dream collage as a visual reminder of our dreams, goals, and priorities.
�Collage your creative dream. This exercise is a potent form of prayer. Working with a dozen or so magazines, tear out images that speak of your dream. Paste these images on a sheet of poster board. Add a photo of yourself. Place the photo centrally, surrounded by images of your creative dream. This is a visual prayer. It is very powerful, as it bypasses our rational mind and its resistance. Seeing is believing!�-Julia Cameron
And now for the fun part:
You�ll need:
- Poster board (I purchased the 1/4?foam board)
- Magazines, photos, quotes
- Scissors
- Two-sided tape or glue stick
Create what you sense God is calling you to do, and perhaps more importantly, whoHe is calling you to be. It�s your story, your dream.
While there�s no one-way to do it�which is freeing if you�re a recovering perfectionist like me�I began with the center. An image of a man scattering seeds reminds me of my ultimate target�to share the love of Christ. In addition to images from magazines and copies of old photos, I included scripture references, as well as biblical reminders.
Then I moved to the bottom, adding images to illustrate foundational truths for my writing. One, a fuel gauge, reminds me to keep my tank full�spiritually and creatively. How can we give to others what we ourselves don�t possess?
Moving up the board, I added pictures to inspire my writing, like my grandmother�s house that was the muse for my first poem. I also used pictures of her garden, as well as pictures from an outing to Carl Sandburg�s home in Flat Rock, NC.
Finally, the top of my board represents what I pray will be the result of writing with God in the center: �Write so that heaven is different.� -Lee Roddy
If you�d like to see my storyboard, click here to access my post Storyboard for Inspiration.
In a very real sense, it is a visual prayer.
Who or what will take center stage on your dream collage? Be as general or as specific as you wish. If you have a collage, would you consider sharing it in the comment section?
TWEETABLES
An Artist Date: Collage Your #Creative Dream (And a Starbucks Giveaway!) @CathySBaker on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)
Tips to create a visual prayer to encourage our #creativity from @CathySBaker on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)
Cathy Baker is an award-winning writer and author of Pauses for the Vacationing Soul: A Sensory-Based Devotional Guide for the Beachas well as Pauses for the Vacationing Soul: A Sensory-Based Devotional Guide for the Mountains. Cathy is a Hope*Writer and Bible teacher who has taught numerous studies and workshops over the past twenty-five years. Her work has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Upper Room, and Focus on the Family�s Thriving Family. She is a monthly contributor to The Write Conversation; Writer�s Digest 101 Top Websites for Writers. She and her husband, Brian, live in the foothills of the Carolinas with a beautiful view of Glassy Mountain and a soon-to-be tiny house.
To connect with Cathy, visit The Tiny House on the Hill@ https://www.cathybaker.org. Become a part of the THH community and receive a free gift, �10 {Tiny} Prayers that Offer Great Hope.�The tiny prayers included in this pocket-sized publication might just surprise you!
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