artist retreat weekend

full of sunshine, happiness and artistic inspiration, the ace hotel proved to be the perfect home for the first of many "Artist Retreat" weekends. in our pursuit of furthering our collective creative passions, we somehow managed to combine productivity with pleasure.

we approached the weekend with a certain degree of discipline. since palm springs generally = the perfectly lazy weekend for me, this was crucial to our goals. we arrived friday around 6:30 and discussed our schedule and hopes for the coming days - this pow wow involved a few delicious cocktails poolside of course! much like summer camp we mapped out everything: like when we'd work, when we'd meet up to critique/brainstorm/discuss our collective works, and when we'd shut down our lap tops and have some fun. we even planned for "lights out" at 11PM - creativity, much like beauty needs it's sleep. over dinner at the deliciously fresh King's Highway we bubbled with excitement and anticipation of two entire days dedicated to our side passion projects.


Saturday morning we took our coffee on a little walk-about around the hotel grounds. i was delighted by all the nooks and crannies hidden throughout. around 10am we split up to get to work. i settled in at a table under the canopies by the pool. for the next 6 hours i worked tirelessly designing the look & personality for a new project i'm working on (hush hush for now, but i will share the details shortly!) - finding inspiration in everything from the mountain view to the eclectic mix of guests milling around. as we worked, critiqued, brainstormed, worked, shared, sipped champagne and worked, our creative energies came to life and brought forth a fountain of ideas and a sense of new found purpose.


the weekend proved uber successful: i left with a clear vision for my new "brand", jaime made great strides in completing a book proposal based on her blog, and erin (who took my breath away with her poetic and heart-stingingly honest song lyrics - truly amazing) continued to write.


we all came away thoroughly energized by our experience. as creative women with full time jobs, it's not often we have the freedom of time to tap into this part of ourselves. it was both eye opening and exhilarating. but also a bit heartbreaking knowing it was only a temporary hiatus from our everyday. thankfully, we're already looking forward to artist's retreat weekend part two...perhaps we can even open it up to other women looking to tap into their dormant creative spirit!