This blog was started with the intention I would track my journey making art while figuring out how to be a parent.
When it began, I was a stay-at-home parent, and learning it didn’t work so well to have a baby in the studio with me, no matter what the other hip moms on Instagram were doing.
In January, I started a full-time job and my kid started daycare. I was nervous for the transition, but it went great. I was able to get to the studio from time to time, and it was easier to afford a new tube of paint.
We had just settled into our new groove. Then everyone’s world turned upside down.
I pivoted my blog to more stream of consciousness for now, after a colleague recommending logging your daily actions to keep the days under self quarantine from blurring together. You can expect me to continue to venture off the topic of art for a while, but I don’t mean for the original mission to be forgotten.
I remember the last time I went to the art studio to paint. It was a bit over a month ago. One of my precious Fridays off from work while Emmylou was at daycare. I wasn’t feeling motivated, so I didn’t stay for long. I had been thinking of taking a rare mid-day nap.
While I was at the studio, I had a moment to catch up to my wonderful studio mate, Janis Anton, who I miss seeing. She told me about having coffee with a friend who said to her: “you’re the last person I’m seeing in a public place for a while.” We both thought that sounded extreme. And now we know better, and I wish I had spent more time meeting up with friends in February and in the first week of March, and catching up with Janis on that day. I wish I had spent longer painting, too.
Making art hasn’t been a priority lately, as almost every waking moment is dedicated to childcare and work, making meals and cleaning them up. The increased time at home has upped my cleaning game. Keeping things tidy enough to make it feel good to be here all the time. I try to bleach the bathroom twice a week, and clean things like the high chair and floors more often than I used to. Vacuum nightly. Without the blessings of daycare, I clean and rotate Emmylou’s toy and book selection daily.
Last weekend I paused my new daily grind to grab a few supplies from my art studio, as I realized this stay-at-home order is going to go on for a while. No real idea when it could lift, but I feel certain it’ll be longer than the current date of May 3rd.
Our home is a tiny two bedroom apartment. We have two workstations set up, as both my spouse and I are doing the full-time WFH thing. One is smushed in the bedroom, with our bed, hampers, and hang-to-dry laundry items in full view of every Zoom work call. The other is in the kitchen, where I use the toaster oven as a laptop stand, and pray the shelves above don’t give way and send pantry items crashing down on my head. This is to say, we don’t have a lot of extra space, and the need for childproofed space narrows the options for anything new I bring into the space. An easel requires a not-so-minor set up and take down, exclusively during hours my child is asleep. I went for it today, and it felt good. Because it’s not going to be easy to make time and space for, it’ll take more conscious effort to do (as all new good habits require).
Like my paintings, the new process is also a work-in-progress.