Saturday, January 2, 2010

2010 Artistic Retreat: Starting From Within


Photo from: Alesa Dam

Darling Devotees,

I hope you had a fabulous day yesterday and are ready to make this year into everything you want it to be. Well, as I mentioned yesterday I've decided to start off my year with an inspirationally-charged retreat, an artistic retreat of sorts, to prepare me for the year ahead. I would love for you all to join me in it, too. After all, art is about the way you express yourself, how you feel and who you are. It's therapeutic and purging, because it helps you take all of your experiences and emotions, good and bad, and turn them into something truly beautiful. I love how William Wordsworth said


“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility”.

However, I believe that this is true of not only poetry but any art form, be it fiction or non-fiction writing, music, dance, photography, painting, sculpting, fashion, gardening or anything else, really. To be able to express yourself sufficiently is a talent. It comes naturally but you can improve your ability by exercising and making use of it. For some people, this talent is their career and source of income so being able to find inspiration in even the smallest events and dullest days becomes vitally important. Whether or not your art form is your food source is irrelevant though. Finding a muse, being able to translate something that moves you or the emotions that you feel into art is a good skill for any one to learn. So please join me if you can and I would love to see your results. You can send them (pictures, scans, links to blog posts) to me via email, or tell me about them in the comments. I will also share my plans and adventures too in each blog post.

Things you will need for the retreat:

a notebook, camera, video camera and/ or recorder- something to record things that inspire you, pen or pencil
a backpack / purse to keep your stuff
your art supplies -depending on what your art is
a portfolio ( a binder, or folder) and virtual one- saved on flash
a board (preferably cork) with tacks

Day 1: Starting from Within
Today is all about looking through your past work and familiarising yourself with the dominant themes in your past work. Looking through this stuff will probably be like seeing a movie on your personal history. The purpose of this exercise is to give you an idea of who you are and where you're coming from, in order for you to be able to grow. Just let loose and let your mind wander and be free. I want you to delve into these exercises wholeheartedly in order to unlock the freespirit within. So gather all your old notebooks, paintings or drawings you've done, personal photos, items of clothing or other personal items, or even past portfolios, and take all these things into a quiet, cosy place where you can go through them without being disturbed.
*** summary of assignment***
1. Read through your old notebooks or sketchbooks, look at old pictures, paintings, drawings, portfolios. What common themes do you see in them? Are most of them about love, important events in your life, dreams you may have about your future?
2. What does each item say about you, or who you are or who you were at that point in time?
3. How have you changed through the years? How have you remained the same?
4. What did you like about what you've done? How would you like to improve or change?
After you've asked yourself these questions, write your answers in a notebook .
***summary of assignment***
My interpretation:
I am going to a cute little café in the old part of the city called Viel Ville, and I'm taking some of my notebooks as well as my camera, because it's a beautiful day out. I'll spend part of my day there and then come back to my room and spend the rest of my day going through the rest of my stuff. I will seek out my themes and critique my work. Then I'll note down all the things I learn about my past from my disjointed portfolio, in my retreat notebook and get back to you guys later today.

Love you all and Stay inspired,





P.S. So let me know what you think. Where are you going? What have you learnt about yourself? What do you look through? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

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