Contents

Writers Nook
Discussion List
Hosted @ Yahoo! Groups
Click Here To Join

The Artist's Way Morning Pages Journal
A Companion Volume to the Artist's Way

The Vein of Gold
A Journey to Your Creative Heart

The Artist's Way at Work - Riding the Dragon

Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self

The Artists Way
A Spiritual Path To Creativity
by Julia Cameron

Have you ever thought inside that you might be able to do something if only you had time to learn how to do it?

See, I'd always wanted to paint but never really tried. Then I read this book. At first, a bit skeptical in my reading of it, I thought 'What the heck - I'll try the program.' and began doing the exercises along with the reading.

I received The Artists Way as a 30th birthday present from a good friend of mine. Little did I know when I opened my mail that day that my life would be so affected.

Thinking back on it, I'm glad the author put warnings at the beginning of each chapter (exercise) to let you know what to expect as far as the changes that would happen inside. There were a lot of emotional curves driving through me during the 12 weeks. But at the end of it all an amazing change began taking place.

I had pieces of thin plywood stored at my old studio apartment - pieces I'd always thought that some day I'd do something with. I remember one day (shortly after having completed the book) I picked up a small piece and painted it white - creating my first "canvas".

The white paint was a cheap latex based paint I used to paint one wall in the studio. My nephew's fingerpaints (I always kept some handy in case he came to visit) became the pigment I mixed with the white paint. I really had no idea what I was going to paint - simply thought I should try to see "if" I could do it.

Not long after I had my first painting ever "Mountain Flowers". By no means is it anything near professional artist standards, but that doesn't matter. It was my First followed quickly by my second "Mountain Flowers 2".

I've done several pieces since this time - but this first one I'll always look at and remember The Artist's Way - had it not been for this book I may never have even tried and my renditions of the "Old Kam River Bridge", "Morning Sun", and "Kekabeka Falls" would never have been done in water colors or acrylics. The acrylic versions of these paintings were given as gifts to my parents and each of my brothers.

This book gave me the courage to say "I can paint. I really CAN paint." Thank you, Julia Cameron!