The Artist Date

National Nordic Museum, Ballard, WA

Author Julia Cameron wrote the classic “The Artist’s Way” over twenty-five years ago, and I have done the “morning pages” twice in the last decade. One of her great ideas (a homework assignment, really) is the monthly Artist Date. Treat oneself to an enriching & inspirational day away from the studio….

…so, I took myself out-to-lunch at the Nordic Museum in Ballard, and had a cheese plate with a frosty Icelandic Mule. Yum, on both items….

The featured artist is Danish painter Laurits Anderson Ring (1854-1933), in his first solo exhibition in the USA.

I like to get an inch away from a painting by a master artist and look closely at the way he or she handles the brush strokes. In places, L.A. Ring dragged the brush over the canvas and left raw, scumbled edges. I usually try to correct that when I do the same. Now, I see I can leave it. Always learning!