Making peace with my pandemic brain

 I think I'm suffering from a pandemic brain, but it's going to be okay...I hope.  

Hello, remember me?

I unintentionally took a month off blogging. It’s not like I didn’t try - I started blog posts here and there, but I couldn’t finish them. As I explained to my husband, it’s like I wanted to say things and then I didn’t want to say anything.

I haven’t been making much art either – just a drawing here and there. Could this be a creative block? 

How do you find me-time as a mother?

Finding me-time as a mother is hard when you have kids at home, a ton of housework and no set lunch break. But, it's not impossible...

I was chatting to a stay-at-home mom friend the other day and she was saying how relentless her days were and how sometimes it felt a bit meaningless.

Did I gasp and instantly gab on about how meaningful I find motherhood?

Heck no, I just nodded because I get it.

Yes, motherhood is beautiful and it’s such important work, but it’s also hard, exhausting and frustrating. When you have little kids, there are days when you feel like an overlooked personal servant. The only way I can think to counter that is to carve out time for yourself and do something that feels meaningful to you.

So we started talking about how we find “me-time” as stay-at-home moms and what that even looks like, especially during a pandemic.

Finding a rhythm for 2021

I quit making resolutions probably about the same time I had a baby. Life becomes rather unpredictable when you have kids and I was done with setting lofty goals that made me feel inadequate rather than empowered.

Over the last few years, I sometimes come up with a word or a phrase for the year that relates to some areas of my life I would like to improve. Last year, my phrase for the year was ‘lighten up.’ It encompassed the ideals of living more joyfully by streamlining mundane tasks, spending more time investing in friendships, having more fun and yes, rather predictably, losing a little weight. And then COVID-19 hit us.  

It was hard to lighten up in 2020 and, since I still feel like I’m learning how to do this, I didn’t want to come up with a phrase or word for the year. But it came to me regardless – rhythm.

On learning to draw

A friend of mine asked my advice on teaching her art-loving young child to draw using how-to guides/formulas and my gut response was Nooooo! I couldn't explain why, but I've been thinking about it and here's why I wouldn't try to teach a young child how to draw... 

1. Learning the so-called rules for drawing often overpowers the most important thing about drawing - the ability to see.

2. The implication of teaching someone how to draw is that there is a right way and a wrong way to draw. If that was the case, all art would look the same.

3. An artist will learn through the best possible means - exploration - there's no need to assist them, only to equip them.

3. Formulas for drawing often follow a left-brained way of thinking and it encourages copying images like a camera. But we have cameras, so...?! 4. Left-brained formulas for drawing are downers for predominantly right-brained creators and can hamper a growing love for art.

5. Drawing formulas assume perfect proportions (like symmetrical faces) when nothing is perfect.

5. There's a magic to a line that is drawn freely, without hesitation, and it's easily lost when drawing according to the rules.

Dreaming #PortraitaDaySA Day 12, 13, 14 & 15

For Day 12 of my #PortraitaDaySA project, I did a pencil drawing from a photo I took of a lovely friend of mine. It almost looks like her... almost. 

The hardest part of drawing portraits is achieving a likeness. The second hardest part is finding the time. I like very few of my quick, I-almost-forgot, late night sketches. After the jump, you can see that drawings for Day 13 and 14 were rush jobs. Oh well, even making bad art is good practise. As for day 15, I completely forgot - oops. 

A Baby & Tipex #PortraitaDaySA Day 11

A baby and Tipex (AKA white-out) is never a good combination. However, when the cross-hatched ballpoint pen chin shadows, on a drawing of a baby girl, end up looking like five o'clock shadows, finding Tipex offers some light relief. 

And once there's one white squiggle, I just had to make more. Go figure! 

This is Day 11 of my #PortraitaDaySA project - a pen drawing from a photo I took of a friend's baby. 

I used to think that drawing a baby was harder than drawing an adult. After drawing my youngest nephew and this little darling, I've come to enjoy the challenge of following curved lines of rounded cheeks and pudgy arms. I couldn't ask for sweet subject matter. 

Oh, yes, and I know I'm way behind on the blogging bit of this project. There'll be more soon. In the meantime, check out all the published drawings here. 

Somewhere In Between #PortraitaDaySA Day 8, 9 & 10

Old family photos can only tell you so much... but, somewhere between the pencil and the page, I think I saw a little more. I'm not sure if it was me in you or you in me.

Click here to see more #PortraitaDaySA pictures.

A Moment of Joy #PortraitaDaySA Day 7

This was a moment of pure joy, captured on camera and now in black ink. I love being the aunt to this little guy.

Oh, and JOY! I'm one week into drawing a portrait a day for the month of April. Click here to see more #PortraitaDaySA pictures.

And Then She Moved #PortraitaDaySA Day 6

Sitting with her crochet in her lap, she was concentrating so on the pattern that I think it took my sister a while to realise that I was drawing her. And then she moved.

I'm drawing a portrait a day in April. Click here to see more #PortraitaDaySA pictures.

Selfies & Sneaky Sketches #PortraitaDaySA Day 4 & 5

The long Easter weekend reminded me of a few things. One is is that marshmallow Easter eggs are addictive and do not last long in my home. The second is that, after a frustrating start, I love drawing with pencils again. How could I forget!

I started this #PortraitaDaySA pencil portrait on Saturday and worked a little more into it on Easter Sunday.

Okay, that's kind of cheating, and it doesn't look exactly like me, but the process was fun. So much so that I was just thinking, 'Hey, wouldn't it be cool if #drawnselfie was like a thing?!' Yes, sometimes my inner voice sounds like Cher from Clueless...with hashtags. So I searched and it is a thing! Yay! Click here to check it out.

On Easter Sunday I was back to my sketchy ways in church (actually I never left them) and drew this lovely lady in a black ball-point pen (my fav).

Check out more #PortraitaDaySA posts by clicking here

Live on Friday #PortraitaDaySA Day 3

When it comes to drawing portraits, there's nothing better than drawing from life.

I spent Good Friday with my family, which offered me the perfect opportunity sharpen a pencil and, between sips of coffee, complete day three of my #PortraitaDaySA challenge.

Braids - Back When The Year Begun