When the sunshine drops in late autumn, folk of various faiths combat the darkness with festivals of light. In Mexico, they kick this time of year off with the Day of the Dead: all skulls and candles, Chavela Vargas’ haunting tones. Here at work in Cambridge, when the postman comes at 4pm, he tells me how he hates the dark – the cold I don’t mind, he says, but these endless gloomy afternoons…

And I’m inclined to agree. Actually this is about the time I start a list. I call them art dates but they don’t really involve other people. More a date with an artist’s work or with nature: something that fills the creative well. I’ve heard it talked about before. Is the idea mentioned in Anne Lamott’s, Bird by Bird? Does Elizabeth Gilbert touch on it in Big Magic? All I know is I’ve been doing it since I had any inkling that what I needed most on Earth was to be creating, and there were ways to help the thoughts to flow.

Last winter a friend told me about a ceramics exhibition in Kettles Yard by Lucie Rie. I had written the first draft of my current novel and had stopped to let it be. The afternoon was freezing when I wandered into Jim Ede’s House after work, but the warmth I found in that gallery enveloped me, the work absorbed my thoughts – each piece an intricate expression of the artist’s vision. I watched a film of Rie talking about her process, and read tiny cards by the cabinets about her life, and later when I left, it was as though a gust of oxygen had filled my brain and I could think and feel – with space – again.

An art date, for me, is a place to play, a zone of exploration, the gift of time and connection to what I love or what I don’t yet know I might grow to admire. There’s no output required, no talent or courage, only curiosity. A gentle stroll through solitude, some field to roam with nothing planted yet, just the sunlight of another’s work.

Here are some favourite art dates (in no particular order):

1. A film, preferably a bit unusual or boundary-pushing. I watched two last week: Human Traffic (again) if only for Danny Dyer’s energetic debut and the sheer great heart of it – I told myself I was researching my novel (also set in the 1990s) but nope, this was pure Art Date pleasure. The other was Boiling Point (the film not the series), shot in one take and just as explosive. I feel the lead, ‘Andy’ may have been in need of an art date himself for much of the film – same for his staff – but what cinema!
2. A favourite coffee shop + escapist novel/good poetry.
3. Museum + museum shop + camera. Taking pictures sometimes helps me stand back from the present while engaging with it, immersively.
4. Open Studios (if it’s summer. See blogpost, here)
5. Bake or cook something I’ve never tried before. I give myself hours (if I can) and remove any pressure related to outcome. Yes, there is some courage required here, but the focus of it, the joy at making a gluten free tart after having given up pastry post-Coeliac, is real. This is a blackberry and apple tart (pre-oven) with a cardamon-marzipan filling.

6. On the subject of gluten free bakes, a takeaway Farinata from The Venetian at Cambridge Station is up there for me as a top art date. The owner told me that no one here, or in London seems to know about Farinatas yet (so here’s a recipe). Yes reader, you read it here first.

7. A wander around a bookshop with a takeaway coffee. I add this date with a caveat: don’t do this if the writing hasn’t been going well lately. There’s nothing like the pleasure of reading near perfect words on an author’s first page, even if the envy sometimes creeps in, too. But what can really get to me is seeing bad writing in a bookshop. I often have to walk straight out again! Also, bookshops in my hometown can get crowded, and I don’t find hoards so conducive to a good art date.

8. Play with an animal. And if you don’t have an animal nearby, watch them. I’ve seen a lot of creatures pass my living room window this winter: two foxes, a large white hound dragging its owner on a leash, three squirrels this morning, all manner of birds. Observing an animal sometimes feels like stepping out of the world of opinion and into somewhere far more free.

9. Eat hazelnut chocolate. Or any treat you love! Okay this one’s a bit niche, but I found a bar (or two) I can actually eat (Thank you – Culinaris, Mill Rd) and it is heaven. I Savour the taste. Taking it with me on a walk to the park, or out into nature.

10. Nature. The best date. Perfect solitude – and dare I say it, inspiration, the place we are never truly alone.

*I’m going to add a bonus one – more a recommendation than a date. I love true crime – not the gory ones, but the thriller-edged investigations that lift the shade from some societal ill. This one’s called The Girlfriends (produced by I Heart Radio) & I found its female camaraderie & determination for truth inspirational.

Dear reader, if you have some favourite art dates to add, do feel free to share them in the comments section below. Your thoughts, as always are welcome…

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