Why Winter is The Perfect Time For Artist Dates
I’ve always been a summer girl.
Give me long days, sunshine, bare feet, salt air, and the feeling that the day is wide open. For most of my life, winter felt like something to endure rather than enter.
But lately, I’ve been learning a different way to be with this season.
Instead of bracing against winter, I’ve been practicing meeting it—through coziness, through small rituals, through moments of warmth I create on purpose. A crackling fire in the evenings. A simple glass of red wine. Soft light. Slower mornings. Candles. A journal always within reach.
I’ve been learning about Hygge ~ the Danish idea of cultivating comfort, presence, and warmth—and letting it gently reshape how I move through winter. Not trying to become a winter person overnight, but allowing myself to be a summer soul who finds beauty here, too.
And this is where artist dates come in.
I love sketching the birds at the feeder outside my studio.
What an Artist Date Really Is
An artist date isn’t about productivity.
It isn’t about finishing a painting or making something worthy of sharing.
It’s a quiet appointment with yourself.
A moment to follow curiosity.
To notice beauty.
To tend the part of you that longs to be fed by color, texture, words, light, or stillness.
Sometimes an artist date looks like creating.
Other times, it looks like receiving, observing, wandering, listening, or simply being.
Why Winter Is Especially Suited for Artist Dates
Winter asks something different of us.
It doesn’t demand urgency.
It doesn’t reward hustle.
It invites us inward.
When I was an art teacher, winter always felt endless. Teaching first through eighth grade, the days were full and noisy, the light was scarce, and creativity often had to fit into tight schedules and short attention spans. By February, winter felt less like a season and more like a test of endurance.
Photo from Bluff Point State Park, my favorite place to walk and gain inspiration
I think that’s part of why, now, I’m so intentional about how I meet this time of year. I know what it feels like when winter drains you—and I also know how deeply nourishing it can be when you’re allowed to move through it slowly, creatively, and on your own terms. In winter, the world becomes quieter, and that quiet makes space for noticing. The way light falls differently across a room. The comfort of familiar rituals. The feeling of being held by warmth while the world outside rests.
Artist dates in winter aren’t about doing more—they’re about staying connected to yourself when everything slows.
This is the season where I lean into:
Journaling by the fire
Creating affirmation books that remind me who I’m becoming
Choosing a word of the year and letting it guide a painting, rather than forcing meaning
Letting creativity be companionable instead of demanding
Winter teaches trust.
Trust that creativity doesn’t disappear when it’s quiet.
Trust that tending small moments is enough.
Gentle Winter Artist Date Ideas
If you’re longing to stay creatively nourished during winter, here are a few gentle artist date ideas to begin:
Wander through a bookstore and let yourself be drawn to what surprises you
Cook something warm and comforting, just for the experience of it
Take a winter walk and notice color—berries, bark, sky, water
Sit by the fire with your journal and write without an agenda
Create something small and private, meant only for you
Do something kind for the birds or your garden
These aren’t tasks.
They’re invitations.
A Winter Invitation for Your Creativity
I gathered these ideas—and many more—into a free printable guide created especially for winter.
The Winter Artist Date Guide is meant to be returned to slowly. To be folded into your days in a way that feels supportive, not demanding. There’s no right order, no timeline, and no expectation to do it all.
Just choose what calls to you.
A Closing Thought
Winter doesn’t have to be something you survive.
Even if you’re a summer girl ☀️ at heart, like me, this season can become a place of gentleness, trust, and quiet beauty—one small ritual at a time.
One artist date is enough.
One moment of warmth is enough.
You are allowed to move through winter in your own way.
Warmly, Laura
P.S. If you’d like to see more inspiration from my studio, you can wander through my current collections here.
