So, yesterday, my fabulous daughter Maisy turned 20! She is my oldest child so this is especially mind blowing to me, especially since I had her when I was 20 and my mom had me when she was 20. In thinking about this, and discussing how she does not have to extend this tradition, I came to the realization that I have been a mother for half my life! Excuse me? Yes, half of my time here on earth I have been a mommy. And being a mom is an all enveloping and time consuming job! So is being an artist. How can I do both well? Lately, I've been concentrating on how to figure this out. The book Creative Time and Space is helpful in this respect.
Me and Maisy after she did my makeup :)
Upon turning 40 I have come to realize how precious time really is. Time is valuable. When we're young we don't realize that and waste soooooo much of it, at least I did! Now, I try my hardest not to waste any time. And all the things I "have" to do I try to do as efficiently as possible. I want my time to be spent doing valuable things, things I love, things that make me feel good inside and out. But how can I do that? I'm beginning to understand that in order to spend my time valuably I have to make the time for what I want to do. I have to.....schedule and plan. That seems easy to a lot of people but it's not to me really. I'm a spontaneous, fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal. But that hasn't got me where I want to be in this short life, artistically that is, so I've made a schedule. Sometimes I stick to it, sometimes I don't but it's helping a lot! And it's made me much more aware of how my time is spent.
One of the things that is helping me to achieve my goal of treating my time as precious is learning to say no. No, I'm not answering the phone now....it's Ruby's nap time (she's 3) and this is art time. Maybe art making, maybe art marketing, maybe art blogging! I'm not cleaning the house now, or doing laundry or watching a movie, sorry Honey! Another time saver is multi tasking. I never, ever, watch tv without crocheting or drawing. I always do laundry while I'm cleaning (which I like to set a timer for and hustle!) And I like to catch up with family, particularly my mom and sister, while I'm cleaning. Or sometimes I make cleaning a game with my two littles, Freeman and Ruby. When we go to the park we walk, for exercise, and once we get there and I play with the kids some then I let them keep playing and I crochet or draw. I've recently started to listen to a wonderfully inspiring podcast (Kellie Rae Roberts' Possiblitarian podcast) while I'm making dinner. I'm trying to surround myself with creativity and inspiration so that I can move into art making as soon as I have time. My job is also creative, I am an art teacher on Artie the art bus. It is a part time job, which I like, because it's fun to teach art and it allows me to be home with my children and my studio most of the time. My other part time job is a water aerobics instructor which is still multi tasking because I'm excercising at work! Plus it just feels good being in the water. You get the point though, I try to cram as much into a day as possible!
Me in front of Artie the art bus, a mobile art class room
Besides trying to do as much in a day as I can, I'm learning to really take the time to enjoy what I'm doing. This is super easy when I'm painting or coloring with Ruby or walking in the sunshine or watching Freeman do tricks or listening to Krystah tell me about her day or having a drink with my husband. But I'm trying to enjoy cleaning the kitchen, folding the laundry, making dinner. I know, that sounds crazy but it is making my life better and more meaningful. And, I hope, it is influencing my children to do the same in their lives one day. My true hope is that they see their mother treating her time as valuable, they see me making time for my passion. That they will never loose themselves in life and that they make time for their own passions and enjoy their lives, all the time.
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