On a Journey Back to Her Wings: My First Artist Date~The Artist's Way

My First Artist Date

Woolworth Walk

Many of you know I'm a huge book lover.

I have a fondness for those creative self-help books.

I'm so thrilled to be in The Artist's Way book club

for this entire year!

There are 12 chapters...we are working on one chapter at a time.

Brilliant!

The Artist's Way is by Julia Cameron...she says there are 2 main components to releasing your inner creative Goddess.

One is the morning pages.

My Morning Pages Journal

The first thing you do every single morning

is write 3 pages in a journal.

Just write.

It can be anything.

It can be WHY AREN'T THE DISHES DONE?...

to I feel so alive and beautiful today...

the point it to dump 3 pages of

stream of consciousness writing out.

I'm loving it! I feel so much more free.

The 2nd key ingredient in being successful

with The Artist's Way are Artist Dates.

What is an artist date?

Well, basically anything you want to do

that you don't normally do...and you do it alone.

All alone. Singular. By yourself. If it sounds fun...go do it.

Now...I've been dating myself for years. I take myself out on somewhat of a regular basis.

So I feel my artist dates need to be extra artsy.

Fortunately, I live in Asheville, NC.

Asheville oozes creativity

and is crawling with galleries and all sorts of fun.

My first stop was The Woolworth Walk.

Woolworth Walk

The Woolworth Walk is located in the heart of downtown. You can browse 20,000 square feet of all types of art. There is jewelry, decorative art, candles, all types of local goodness. My favorite part isn't even the art...it's The Soda Fountain!

Grab an old fashioned ice cream soda and take in the gallery.

Journey Heart at Woolworth Walk

My favorite piece at the Woolworth Walk was a heart with wings...with a spiral in the center. This speaks to me on many levels. My next trip downtown I'm going to buy it. I'm not sure who the artist is...I found it interesting it was somewhat difficult to find who created the art in all of the displays. Rarely did I see business cards or names. Strange. I would think you would want the world to know, "I made this."

Across the street is True Blue Art Supply, a nice local art store.

True Blue Art Supply

I ventured in and took in all of the paints, papers, and supplies that I'm still not sure what I would use them for...

but I'm learning.

They have a creation station set up for you to do impromptu art.

I thought that was pretty cool.

I found some water color pencils on sale and

got to use my Go Local card for 10% off.

Score!

My stomach was rumbling by now,

so I decided it was time for lunch.

I took a few moments to enjoy the entertainment on the corner.

(In Asheville there is entertainment

on practically every single corner.)

Mayfel's is one of my favorite restaurants downtown.

I always get the Biltmore burger.

So freakin yummy.

I never leave without buying a jar of pickles to go. I'm not a huge fan of pickles...unless they are Mayfel's.

So seriously good. Some sort of cajun pickles.

The Biltmore Burger

I completely enjoyed my burger and sweet tea while I worked on some of the writing exercises in Chapter 1 of The Artist's Way.

Time to venture on!

Let's go to Kress Emporium.

Kress Emporium

Kress Emporium boasts over 80 regional arts and crafts people. There are fine arts, collectibles, antiques, and plenty of items created from mason jars.

So many mason jars.

You can obviously make about anything from a mason jar.

I saw wall sconces, candelbras, plant holders, and wine glasses.