Deanne Fitzpatrick Rug Hooking Studio

This article, was inspired by the great poster  by Sark called .. “how to be an artist”, it has my own ideas along with some of my friend Katherine Hatheway’s (it was her that suggested raiding your teenage daughters closet. I would never do that.)

How to Act like an Artist

Look for something new everyday  when you look out the same widow. Go outside in the yard to lay down and rest. Get back to nature. Read poetry. Write poetry. Keep a journal. Go to art galleries. Take a day to wander in the city, drop into unusual shops, ones you might not think you are interested in. Visit artists in their studios. Buy art you can afford. Correspond with someone. Start writing letters with an old friend or a new one. Write a letter of praise to anyone you think deserves it.. Seek out new artists, and look for fresh art work and ideas. Spend  a day in the country. Order something in a restaurant you have never eaten before. Wear the clothes in your closet that you never wear. Go someplace foggy, and feel the mist on your face. Spend time with someone you rarely get to see. Try  new subjects in your art. Try new subjects in your reading. Travel ten miles or a thousand. Spend a day helping someone else. Do something that scares you. Take the train. Keep a dream journal for a week. Try yoga. Meditate. Dance. Try belly dancing  jazz dance or ballroom dancing. Just lift your arms above your head and shake your hips. Knit or crochet a warm wooly scarf for yourself. Finger-paint. Work with clay and create a little sculpture. Spend the day with a child. Stop and actually smell the roses, or the lilacs, or the lily of the valley.  Spend one day, or even a few hours without talking. Wear bright colours. Draw sounds or smells. Put sketchbooks and pencils all around you so you’ll  always be reminded to draw. Get new colour tools:  a box of crayons,  fine tipped markers, or a set of gel pens and use them. Wear a skirt. Flirt with someone good looking. Take a drawing course. Sketch your friends. Ask someone to model for you, they’ll be flattered. Throw a party. Bake a pie. Swim. Walk. Make bread. Give a loaf  of bread to a neighbor. Build a fire. Pick blueberries. Eat blueberries while you pick them. Sign up for a course alone. Do an activity you don’t really like to do, just to experience that feeling. Say no when you need to. Say yes when you want to. Go to a concert. Carry your camera with you all the time. Take a no rules approach to your art work. Break any of the rules you have been creating for yourself. Plant some lavender outside your door so you can run your fingers through it on the way into your house. Build yourself a little creative community. Go out to lunch alone.  Paint your toe nails an unexpected  colour.  Massage a friend’s shoulders when you see they need it. Visit someone up you enjoy. Invite someone you don’t know well to an impromptu lunch. Go to church, any church. Walk a labyrinth. Plant a pot or a garden. Pick flowers by the side of the road and bring them home. Go to a farm. Change the part in your hair. Change your hair style. Take a nap in a chair with a good book. Try taking  a new road. Take the old road instead of the fast one. Invent a new recipe. Cook with an ingredient you have never used before.  Eat like you’re in Paris. Listen to new CD’s at the music store. Buy some different music. Go without TV for a week. Teach someone something. Sit by the sea and meditate on the waves. Read Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s book, “Gifts from the Sea.”. Start a small creativity group. Say a few prayers. Take an hour and study the architecture in your downtown. Talk to an older family member. Write down someone else’s story for them as a little gift. Wear high heels. Look at old photos. Don’t spend money for one day.  Decorate your flip flops or a pair of white canvas sneakers. Wear scarves in your hair. Put a flower in your hair, even if you just wear it around the house. Buy a big broach, and embellish yourself. Hang your clothes on the line. Kiss your loved ones. Buy a present for someone and give it just because. Write a card to someone you love. Keep a tiny notebook in your purse so you can write down your ideas. Burn some old papers that you do not need anymore. Tell the truth without being hurtful.  Sort through your closet and give some stuff away. Cut out pictures from magazines that you find lovely and pin them on a bulletin board. Visit a cemetery. Move the pictures in your house around. Paint a room. Make yourself a studio, however small . Put some geraniums in clay pots on your windowsill. Be nice to yourself. Spike your coffee. Take singing lessons. Wear big honkin’ earrings. Raid your teenage daughter’s closet.  Go for a hike. Reflect on  your dog’s honesty. Make friends of all ages. Rent a convertible on a sunny day.Compliment someone you don’t know.

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