The Artist's Way - Week One

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

Writing three morning pages each day, as suggested by Julia Cameron in her book The Artist’s Way, is much easier said than done. Week one and I only managed to write them three out of seven days. Not bad, considering I only averaged five to six hours of sleep every night for the past week, but if I were being graded on this self-appointed assignment, I wouldn’t be passing.

Why so little sleep? In addition to working full-time in an office, I’m a full-time working artist, and a soon to be published author. That’s right, later this year I’ll be adding author to my list of credentials. An essay I am writing about the role art has played in my life and the necessity for me to honor my creative spirit is being published in a book. This past Friday I attended a workshop hosted by the publisher so in preparation I spent many a late night last week finishing my first draft so that I could get feedback on it. But if getting ready to be published isn’t enough, I was sleepless in Denver as I also prepared to hang ten paintings at Larimer Hot House and I finished painting my two masks for the annual Denver Hospice Mask Project.

Larimer Hot House

Denver, Colorado

Larimer Hot House is located at 2810 Larimer St, Denver, Colorado 80205. Enjoy my vibrant abstract paintings while dining at the Hot House Monday through Friday, home of the Ten Buck Lunch (includes sandwich, soda or bottle water, homemade potato chip or potato salad, pickle and a krispy treat) and where Breakfast Burrito’s start at just $3.50. Breakfast is served from 7am to 11am. Lunch is served from 11am to 3:30pm.

Awaken the Dreamer Within and

The Golden Thread of Truth

The Denver Hospice - which marks its 32nd Anniversary in 2010 - is Colorado's oldest and largest hospice. The annual Mask Project helps people in the Denver community at a most critical time - the end of life - and enables Denver Hospice to continue their comprehensive and compassionate program of care. The 2010 Mask Project is free and open to the public, with hundreds of masks by renowned artists, celebrities, sports figures, political and community leaders on display at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center from April 1 to April 30, 2010.

I also struggled in week one of The Artist’s Way course with scheduling my weekly artist date with myself. The challenge? Balancing work with my personal life. Between my day job, painting, and writing (and the business of managing my multiple careers), I don’t have a lot of time to spend with my significant other so it felt criminal just to think of doing the fun things I had planned this weekend without him. So solo artist date? I’m looking at big fat goose egg on the week one score card.

Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith

Photo courtesy of Agape

But how could I attend a lecture and workshop with the world renown Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith from the movie The Secret and leave the love of my life at home? It would have been selfish to deny my partner the opportunity to experience the powerful and inspiring messages to let go of the perceived failures and disappointments of 2009 and to follow your bliss as 2010 unfolds.

Photo courtesy of Festivus Film Festival

And with my other half being an avid movie fan, I couldn’t go to the Festivus Film Festival on Saturday with out him. That would just have been rude. Plus, whose hand would I have squeezed during the horror film shorts? And who would I have talked to about the heartbreaking story of nine year old rapper Priscilla Star Diaz in the documentary P-Star whose dad pimped her out to music industry to pull the family out of poverty?

So as week one of my course in The Artist’s Way comes to close I hear the 12-step slogan, “Progress, not Perfection” ringing in my ear. The over achiever in me wishes she could report that she’s off to a perfect start, had written three morning pages each day, and carved out time for a solo artist date, but three days of writing morning pages is three more than I had written the week before so I celebrate my accomplishments.

Check back next week as I continue my 12-week course of The Artist’s Way, reveal some of the exciting things that are happening at the Denver Art Society, and report on my screening of the independent film Our City Dreams, a documentary about five female artists navigating the New York art scene.