Your Summer Art Club Toolkit
The Artist's Way basics and a few supplies to get started
Summer Art Club, a 12 week The Artist’s Way book club, is starting June 1! If a summer of morning pages, artist dates, and a little extra whimsy sounds fun, come join us. If you sign up before June 1st, you can just make a one time payment of $10 for full access.
Check out the intro post to learn more, and sign up at the button below. Today’s post covers the book’s Introduction and is a preview of what we’re doing behind the paywall this summer.
It’s been a strange week, friends. On Monday, a “Hey maybe I should get this weird spot by my tooth checked out” became an unexpected dental procedure. A few hours later, I packed a lunch bag with ice packs for my jaw, picked up a smoothie for dinner, and went with Chris and a friend to see Andy Squyres play a show before the novocain could fully wear off.
Late Tuesday, I stocked up on all the soft food, like mac and cheese and applesauce, and a cold front pushed through, bringing wintery, cloudy, soup-appropriate days. Peak warm, soft food weather.
To quote Andy’s excellent new song Miracle Service: “A side effect of faith is you get a sense of humor.” I guess I feel that this week?
Anyway. That’s not what I’m here to write about, though it is kind of funny to have fall layers and a space heater while kicking off Summer Art Club. We have a little over a week to go before we begin our journey through The Artist’s Way, and I’m excited to have you along for the ride. Consider this post your orientation and supply list.
We officially start on June 1, but this weekend is a great time to read through the introduction and get familiar with what’s ahead.
What to Expect
First, some encouragement: It took me three tries to get through this book. Maybe you’ll cringe sometimes at the self-helpy vibes. Maybe there will be exercises that feel weird, but maybe you’ll try something that you didn’t want to do and have a meaningful experience.
My best suggestion is take what helps and leave the rest. Try an exercise that doesn’t sound like you and pay attention to how it feels. For me, this was writing affirmations. I hated the idea of doing them! But I gave it a shot and found it surprisingly helpful.
By the end of the book, you might feel so tired of self-reflection. I think that’s good, actually. We’re taking this summer to carve out space to explore our inner worlds and let our inner artist out to play for a bit, so we can then reach outward and create beauty where we are, for our communities and the life of the world.
The Two Core Practices
Each chapter offers short essays on a theme and a bunch of tasks and exercises. Cameron says herself that there’s no expectation to do ALL the exercises each week, but instead to pick a couple that are either super exciting or super repelling. You’ll know.
Then there are the two iconic practices that I’m sure most of us have heard mentioned at some point…
Morning Pages: 3 daily brain dump pages, handwritten first thing in the morning to help you clear your head each day. Real talk? If you do nothing else in the book but write pages most days, I think that’s enough. I found this practice really grounding, and even though I don’t do them every day, it’s the one practice I’ve stuck with for the most part. Give it a try and see what happens!
Artist Dates: A bit of time each week set aside to nurture your creative self. Preferably free/cheap and alone, if you can. Guys, I’m gonna be honest, I struuuuuggled with this one, and maybe did it three times? So my personal goal this go around is to do more Artist Dates. Would love to swap ideas with you as we go and cheer each other on!
Some Possibly Helpful Tools
I’m not here to tell you to buy a bunch of stuff, but there are a few tools that made my journey a lot easier and more fun last summer. Here’s a few little things you might want to pick up for Summer Art Club. Or better yet, you probably even have them at home.
A Copy of The Artist’s Way book: You could order a brand new copy or a fancy edition online. But honestly? It’s over 30 years old and widely in print, so check your thrift store first. Or max out your renewals at the library! See if an artsy bookish friend has a copy you can borrow! (Chances are good that we are all the artsy bookish friend that once bought a copy with good intentions.)
The Cheapest Notebooks You Can Find: When it comes to morning pages, there’s no specifics other than word count, so if you have an unused journal or notebook you can write in, by all means use that. Personally, I enjoyed buying something specific, and my go to has been a classic college rule composition notebook. Get a cute one if you can, or pick up something basic and decorate it like you’re in elementary school. For me, going cheap on the notebook helps me be less precious about the contents. That said, also get…
The Nicest Pen or Pencil You Can: I mean, you could use a promo ballpoint from your insurance agent if you like it! But I discovered pretty quickly that sticking with morning pages requires a tool that feels good to write with. After trying a bunch of different pens in my house, I reverted back to the Pilot G2 because they’re refillable, have smooth ink, and make a satisfying scratchy sound.
A Pack of 4x6 Index Cards: I just happened to have some at home and they turned out to be wildly helpful. I kept a card with the weekly check in questions in my morning pages notebook so I wouldn’t have to look them up every time. I wrote affirmations on them, memorable quotes, some of the shorter exercises… anything that I didn’t want to get lost in my pages.
Along the way, you’ll probably discover other interesting tools for the journey. The Artist’s Way often asks you to get in touch with things you loved to do as a kid, an invitation to play. There is room for spontaneity, for buying the crayons and the stickers. But this should be plenty to get you started.
Stay Open. See What Happens.
My hope is that this process doesn’t feel like homework, but instead invites you to a fun exploration of your creative side. It’s less about output and more about cultivating delight.
Participants, keep an eye on your email for an invitation to a private Discord server! Substack comments are great, but on Discord we can have chats for each chapter, share photos (maybe of art you’re making or from artist dates?) and have more of a private messaging experience. If you’ve never used it before, you can find a comprehensive beginner guide here.
I’m excited to go on this adventure with you!
