The Artist’s Way

As a facilitator for Julia Cameron’s renowned book The Artist's Way, one of the most powerful tools I share with participants is the Creative Affirmations. These positive statements aim to counteract the negative self-talk and doubts that can hold back artists and creatives.

The Basic Principles of Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way provide a philosophical foundation for awakening one’s creative potential and nurturing one’s inner artist.

This is the twelfth post in a series on The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, a book and a self-study program by writer Julia Cameron. I’m looking back on Week 12: Recovering a Sense of Faith.

During lockdown or when we want to stay in, artist dates can seem challenging. Here are over twenty ideas for artists dates that can be done at home.

In the Basic Tools, Cameron describes morning pages — ‘three pages of longhand writing, strictly stream-of-consciousness.’ She clarifies, ‘There is no wrong way to do the morning pages.’

This is the eleventh post in a series on The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, a book and a self-study program developed by Julia Cameron in the 1990s. I’m looking back on Week 11: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy.

This is the tenth post in a series on The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, a book and a self-study program developed by Julia Cameron in the 1990s. I’m looking back on Week 10: Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection.

This is the ninth post in a series on The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, a book and a self-study program developed by Julia Cameron in the 1990s. I’m looking back on Week 9: Recovering a Sense of Compassion.

This is the eighth post in a series on The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, a book and a self-study program developed by Julia Cameron in the 1990s. I’m looking back on Week 8: Recovering a Sense of Strength.

This is the seventh post in a series on The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, a book and a self-study program developed by Julia Cameron in the 1990s. I’m looking back on Week 7: Recovering a Sense of Connection. It’s been two years since I first completed The Artist’s Way and it’s taken me as long to look back and reflect. I make plans, then life has its own plan.

This is the sixth post in a series on The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, a book and a self-study program developed by Julia Cameron in the 1990s. I’m looking back on Week 6: Recovering a Sense of Abundance.

I moved my art studio home a few months ago before the lockdown began. I set up my desk to catch the light from the sliding glass doors running the length of my living room. Working from home, I go deep into my solitude each day. I paint, write, and thinking about what’s possible for the next few months.

I usually do my weekly artist date on Friday afternoon. The artist date is a practice from The Artist’s Way. It’s a dedicated time each week to nurture your inner artist. This time I decided to take my camera out and go for a long walk around my neighbourhood. The streets were quiet. The sun was bright.

As I write this, I am seated at a co-working space in Canggu, Bali. I’ve been on the road for 44 days now. Last week I worked out of an art studio in Berawa, a hip little town at the edge of Canggu along the southern coast of the island.

Over the past few months, I’ve sensed a bit of stubbornness, a general disinterest in pretending things are fine with me when they are not. As I worked my way through week 4 of The Artist's Way, I was reminded of my childhood.

By the third week of doing The Artist’s Way, I had found a rhythm and was already starting to see some changes in the way I approached my creativity and expression. The book and process require a good amount of personal reflection and introspection. Writing the morning pages each day meant I was tapping into the feelings and thoughts of each day, and the weekly exercises meant a bit of digging around in the past to understand the present.

This is the second in a series of posts about The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, a book and a self-study program developed by Julia Cameron in the 1990s. Cameron begins the week by discussing the ebb and flow of gaining strength and falling back into self-doubt. As we grow, there can be doubt even in the growth itself. Cameron gives some helpful advice — ‘Do not let your self-doubt turn into self-sabotage.’

At the close of last year, I completed The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, a book and self-study program developed by Julia Cameron in the 1990s. The course helped me reclaim my identity as an artist and return to my passions with new energy and confidence. At the start of the course, Cameron introduces a few exercises to repeat over the 12 weeks.

This is the first in a series of posts about The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, a book and a self-study program developed by Julia Cameron in the 1990s.

The Artist’s Way introduced me to a concept called the morning pages. I get up in the morning and write three pages of stream of consciousness longhand in a notebook. Then get up the next morning and do it again.