Balance
After five years of teaching, you could say I'm starting a new career in finding balance as a stay-at-home mom and illustrator. There are so many pieces to the puzzle, it's sometimes hard to find them all.
The newest piece of my puzzle right now is my baby boy. Because my daily schedule revolves around his needs, I have to stay flexible. If I know he's going down for a nap I make a decision to either do a little bit of housework, or sketch for the small amount of time he's asleep. I don't watch television or read through blogs-hard as that is. I make his sleep time my work time.
When baby's awake, it depends on his mood as to what I can do. Sometimes we go to the gym where I can work out knowing he's being watched after by responsible care providers. Sometimes he sits in my lap or in his bouncy chair as I sketch in my workroom. Sometimes he wants to be walked around, so I'll walk around the house picking up here and there. And sometimes nothing will get done and I have decided to be okay with that. I don't try to be Superwoman by any means, but at any given moment I try to be The-Best-I-Can-Be-Woman.
The next piece of the puzzle was determining that creating art was important enough to me to carve out time for it. Then I presented it as a priority to my ever-fantastic husband/partner. I think he's probably the second biggest piece in my puzzle of finding balance. There's a lot of anxiety that disappears once you know that someone has your back.
That's not to say I don't do a lot of self-motivating. In the illustration business, I think that's a requirement. You have to want and need to create and get after it yourself. I've lucked out in the last month with my inspiration switch staying flipped to "on." New ideas and projects pop up in my head every week and it's all I can do to scribble them down in my sketchbook. They're pretty exciting for me, and wanting to create them makes it a lot easier for me to carve out time for them.
The last, but not least, piece of the puzzle is the realization that in order to create art you have to live. Sometimes the pens, paints and pencils need to be put away and the tennis shoes, beach blanket or suitcase need to come out; a movie watched, a game of fetch played or phone calls made. You can always return to an idea, project or assignment; you can't go back in time to those moments where you could have created a memory. I always try to make the most of the life I have, because there is no better source of inspiration.
The newest piece of my puzzle right now is my baby boy. Because my daily schedule revolves around his needs, I have to stay flexible. If I know he's going down for a nap I make a decision to either do a little bit of housework, or sketch for the small amount of time he's asleep. I don't watch television or read through blogs-hard as that is. I make his sleep time my work time.
When baby's awake, it depends on his mood as to what I can do. Sometimes we go to the gym where I can work out knowing he's being watched after by responsible care providers. Sometimes he sits in my lap or in his bouncy chair as I sketch in my workroom. Sometimes he wants to be walked around, so I'll walk around the house picking up here and there. And sometimes nothing will get done and I have decided to be okay with that. I don't try to be Superwoman by any means, but at any given moment I try to be The-Best-I-Can-Be-Woman.
The next piece of the puzzle was determining that creating art was important enough to me to carve out time for it. Then I presented it as a priority to my ever-fantastic husband/partner. I think he's probably the second biggest piece in my puzzle of finding balance. There's a lot of anxiety that disappears once you know that someone has your back.
That's not to say I don't do a lot of self-motivating. In the illustration business, I think that's a requirement. You have to want and need to create and get after it yourself. I've lucked out in the last month with my inspiration switch staying flipped to "on." New ideas and projects pop up in my head every week and it's all I can do to scribble them down in my sketchbook. They're pretty exciting for me, and wanting to create them makes it a lot easier for me to carve out time for them.
The last, but not least, piece of the puzzle is the realization that in order to create art you have to live. Sometimes the pens, paints and pencils need to be put away and the tennis shoes, beach blanket or suitcase need to come out; a movie watched, a game of fetch played or phone calls made. You can always return to an idea, project or assignment; you can't go back in time to those moments where you could have created a memory. I always try to make the most of the life I have, because there is no better source of inspiration.
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