Some Time to Myself

It's hard when you're a mom to get some quiet time to yourself. Don't get me wrong--I love every minute of being a mom. It goes by so quickly, if you blink you miss it. But I think it's important to have a little time to oneself, just to recharge and have a fresh appreciation for your kids.

Early morning fog over the lake--so peaceful!

My little guy loves to hang out with me in the studio which is great, except when I'm trying to measure and calculate. I can't tell you how many book covers I've cut too short because I was being yakked to death.

Another difficult thing to do is get in "the zone" while making art when you are bombarded with questions and random thoughts. "Guess what Momma? John Lennon is taller than Paul McCartney. I can't tell about Ringo because he's always sitting down. What happens if the school bus forgets to drop a kid off? Why is it nighttime in Australia?" and so on.

Looking up at the sky at the park, pretending I am out for a tranquil walk!

I used to get a little time to myself while my son napped during the afternoon. When he got older and stopped napping I made a desperate attempt to encourage him to have quiet time. I set the timer for 30 minutes and told him when the timer dings quiet time will be over.

After about 15 minutes I heard a ding. I looked at the clock, wondering how 30 minutes went by so fast.

"MOMMA! Quiet time is over! Timer went ding!" The little bugger forced the timer to zero! Tricky tricky!

Sadly, that was the end of quiet time.

For those of you that are parents, how do you get a little quiet time for yourself?

I am an artist...I am an artist...

*Repeat to self over and over*
It has taken me a while to realize that I really AM an artist! Ever since I was able to hold a crayon in my hand I always told everyone I was going to be an artist when I grew up. I loved to create things and draw pictures. When my dad went on business trips I would spend my time making a special welcome home project for him. Sometimes it was a colored banner, decorated streamers on the back door, or a giant paper flower.

I recall in the second grade my friend Lisa and I started a comic strip. We added a new segment each morning during coloring time. By the end of the year I had about a ream of paper's worth of comics. Lisa and I thought they were hilarious and came close to wetting our pants on a daily basis laughing as we created them. The only thing I remember is a story about a caveman frozen in a block of ice which melted when an explorer shined his flashlight on it! I wish I still had my comic book but my mother threw it away in the name of "cleaning up". My mom just didn't get it.

A watercolor I did in high school of Marilyn Monroe

Through the years I took all the art classes I could and majored in studio art in college, but I never felt like I was "good enough" to do this professionally. I pursued other careers partly because I didn't believe I'd be able to support myself financially as an artist, and partly due to the influence of my college's career development department. They didn't know what to do with me; the only career they could suggest for me was to work in a museum.

One of my Art Club projects Ophelia's Memories

I continued to create art on the side, but really didn't get serious about it until about until I joined an art club sponsored by a local rubber stamp store. We had monthly projects and when I first started showing my work to others, I felt like I was just pretending to be an artist. The encouragement and compliments from my friends really helped me gain confidence in my work.

My first sale...the early version of Sand And Sky Seaglass Journal

It was a big step for me to start selling my work on Etsy but the immediate success I experienced was exciting and confirmed this was what I was meant to do! I sold my first piece in less than 24 hours but before anyone gets too envious, I must state I experienced a dry spell for several months afterward with no sales due to my ignorance regarding marketing!
This summer I had a fabulous opportunity to work with the Arnold Grummer company to design a book project for them (pictured above). They are a small family company specializing in handmade paper products and supplies. You can find their products in arts and crafts stores as well as their website.

I suppose this means I'm officially a professional artist! I still sit in front of my desk in my studio and repeat my mantra to myself over and over. I am an artist!

Will I ever...

...have a clean studio?? Martha Stewart needs to come to my house. She can tackle my closets while she's at it. But that's another blog posting. A very lllllooonnnnggg posting. Here is Martha's studio. Do you think she uses it?! photos from MarthaStewart.comIt seems I do nothing but clean my studio. It never lasts for more than a day before I've messed it all up again with my projects. Papers everywhere, missing my bonefolder, glue stuck to the table, containers meant to keep things together open with their contents strewn across the table...

My studio is long and narrow with short walls like Martha's in the first picture, but not as wide. I have a table I used as an island in my former house, but when I tried it in my new house I kept falling over it. I get injured enough as it is without setting up obstacles for myself.

I've blogged about my studio before and posted photos. Some of you said my studio looked neat and organized but that was just for the photos! Ha ha ha! It never stays that way. If I were to photograph it right now you'd see!
I love all the drawers. They're shallow, just the size for small art supplies. The paper organizers are nice also, but I would need about 35 of them for all my paper!
Just look at all her little glitter jars all lined up so you can see what color they are. I have my glitter and embossing powders in a small stationary organizer with drawers. I am forever opening the wrong drawer and picking up every jar in it to find what I'm looking for. And the sad thing is I even have the names of the colors written on the caps. Obviously that doesn't help me much.

But seriously, look at all that wasted space in the sharps drawer! All those scissors could fit in one compartment and the others could be filled with something else. It is exactly that kind of thinking that has gotten me disorganized. I can't find anything for all the *things* in the drawer.
I've always wanted to keep my ribbon in a little box for easy dispensing, but the trouble is I have too many spools, they're all different sizes and wouldn't fit neatly into the same box. I do have cute little jars like these pictured but I have nowhere to display them because every flat surface is cluttered with something already.

It is beginning to sound like I need to downsize and reduce. I have accomplished that in much of the rest of my house. However, I refuse to budge when it comes to art supplies. I am a packrat and a hoarder, I admit it. You never know when a project might call for an old candy wrapper, a shamrock green bamboo twig, or a torn page out of an Agatha Christie mystery. These are just a few of my treasures stashed away. If I could just remember where I put them...

In the time I have spent drooling over Martha's organized space I could have cleaned out my art cabinet. Sigh. I just need some inspiration. Maybe these photos will help me aspire to be more organized. Or more likely, I'll continue to drool over them until I get cross eyed and sleepy. Then I'll just go to bed, dream about having Martha over and my studio will still be a mess in the morning.