Making Time For Art I
Your whole life can be creative
I’ve already shared about making time for reading in a busy life but I also make time for art. Being an artist isn’t something I have a choice about. I have a strong call to make things with my hands. Originally, I made quilts. But as my artistic skills grew, and the time to use them grew smaller, I knew I had to change how I went about making things.
This coming month, I hope to share some ways that I make art a regular part of my busy mom-life. If you are a creative type of person but struggle to practice it in your daily life, I hope by sharing what I do, I can encourage you and give you some ideas too for making art a part of your life.
Before we begin, I want to start with one meta-narrative. We, as a family, live a creative life. And as a homemaker and a homeschooler, I take my creativity into those spheres as well. Having a home that has beautiful things beautifully arranged all counts towards an artistic practice for the artist. Serving a beautiful meal, even having a lovely centerpiece on my table utilizes my creative faculties. Trying to separate your ‘real’ life from your creative practice only stifles the creative flow.
My first tip, find a medium that you can do in short spurts of time. As I mentioned before I began as a quilter. But the time and head space to work on big quilts spread all over my living room really wasn’t working with having little kids about all the time. So I turned to art journaling.
Mixed media art journaling is the most flexible medium to work in. Let me recommend it to all you busy moms wanting to be creative and not knowing how. Anyone can art journal! Even if it is not your current artistic practice. It certainly wasn’t mine. There are so many different ways to interpret what an art journal is. No matter your skill set, you can make it work for you.
Watercolor? Good.
Pen and ink? Good.
Acrylics? Go for it!
Some combination therein? Fine!
I have seen so many variations of art journals over the years. Please, don't be distracted by how I specifically journal. If you want to write a long journal entry and add a little illustration in pen and ink, you just started your very own art journal!
This is one of the biggest reasons I can make any art at all. I am building layers throughout the day and week. You would be surprised how many minutes there are in your day, tucked in here and there, like easter eggs hidden in a field.
Besides, I see my art journal as practice, as experiment, as adventure, as purging. This isn't fine art I am making. It's not even marketable. It keeps the juices flowing, that's all. And yet, I have discovered and found so much more to my art and my style by being consistent in keeping up with my art journal.
You can see a flip through of my art journal on my IG channel
