Saturday, 2 January 2010
2010 Artistic Retreat: Starting From Within
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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10 comments:
i feel a bit confused about whole thing, but you can count me in i suppose, it seems interesting!
thanks
-DT
Thanks darling. I added a summary in the post highlighted by asterisks (***) to further explain what the task for today is. I hope it helps!
xoxo
Very cool idea! How would you do this for a dancer, like me?
-Luinae,
Well Luinae love, when I was much more into dancing, I had videos of myself practicing, as well as perfomance videos and pictures. You could also look at costumes that you might have or try to recall any of your past routines. the purpose is just to get you to reconnect with your past self and see how you've grown, or how your personal goals/skills in your dancing have changed.
Thanks, awesome response!
-Luinae:
You're very welcome!
xoxo
This is from the closet/fashion/personal style part of my task. After I looked through my wardrobe I learnt this about myself:
- My style has always been something and chic. This shows my constant love and fashion and style as well as my desire for professional success.
- At one point I had a lot of dark clothes and this showed the depression I was going through at the time.
- I usually changed style during any major change in my life.
I've been ecletic in my style all my life and current style (boho whimsical) shows me embracing my bubbly outgoing personality and artistic soul.
As I grow up I want to become more chic in style but maintain the whimsy and romantic elements as well.
Hope this gives you an idea of what your aiming for, depending on your field.
This is definitely something I'm interested in. I used to write poetry and short fiction and take photographs with my digital camera. Somehow after I started going to BU I got so busy that I felt like I didn't have time to do it anymore. I think your ideas are a good inspiration for me, to help me get back into my creative side.
I must agree, Aury - that quote is not only applicable to poetry, but to any and every creative venture one may find themselves on. I'm absolutely adoring this post.
I think I'd like to go to a park, one with statues of some of my favorite characters from fairytales - like Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland. I always find inspiration when I'm surrounded by fantastical things!! :)
-Catie: Wow, that's soo cool! I go to BU too.I also write and was actually in the middle of writing a novel but I got to sucked into school and lost my drive and flow. That's part of the reason I'm doing this retreat now. I hope it helps you!
-Cafe Fashionista: Thanks, dearest! Wow, that sounds like an amazing place, good luck and have fun!
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Hello my darlings!
Thank you, thank you,Thank You for deciding to leave a comment :) I just love hearing from you and interacting with you amazing people. This is why I blog. I love comments, compliments, and totally accept words of advice given in a friendly and positive manner. Negativity is not welcome here. I love all of my darling devotees and would never want to hurt you. I hope you feel the same way, too.