In the past I have found it very effective, when I have been seriously stuck in the attempt to create new work, to go away for several days on what I have come to call an “art retreat”. These involve my renting a small cottage somewhere in a relatively remote rural area, and staying there for several days, completely isolated from external influences and intrusions. The time that has passed since we moved house has been desperately difficult from the artistic point of view. Various distractions have meant that I have been able to do very little creative work, and as a consequence I have been falling into a more and more depressed condition. I decided that it was time to take remedial action, and as the obligations attached to the new house became lighter, I committed myself to another “retreat”.
In some ways this was a bit disappointing. The cottage I booked in the Dales was withdrawn suddenly by the proprietors, and it was not possible to find a suitable alternative. Rather than abandon the idea I decided to book a room in a country inn. This sacrificed isolation but had the apparent advantage of my not having to cook for myself. So I found a place at the Blue Bell Inn in Kettlewell, for three nights.
The experience lacked the solitude and total independence of my normal retreats, but it did mean that I didn’t have to abandon my plan, and it was interesting to measure the effect of altering my normal way of doing things. The classic “full English breakfast” is not my usual start to the day, and I took to drinking beer with dinner instead of wine, but I believe that I would have been dreadfully disappointed to have had to pull out altogether, having got myself very much in the mood.
I did manage three good country walks, which was very refreshing, and I have come back with some reference material with which to work. The trip lacked the sense of excitement for which I had hoped, but I have already begun work on a possible piece. Let’s see how it goes!
One of my objectives was to re-acquaint myself with the limestone scenery of the Dales, which is very different from my more familiar grit-stone environment. In some ways I found that a little disappointing, but on reflection I think that I was only just reaching the point of realising what I ought to be attending to when it was time to come home. Perhaps I need to repeat the experience, although next time it will not be in a Dales pub.