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.

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.

Warming Up

I have a very, very, very big canvas waiting to be painted and it's only been a year since I painted  *gasp!* so I'm totally not freaking out or anything. Ha ha! 

I've never painted anything near this kind of scale and have no idea how other artists start, but thought I'd get going with a few practice paintings and sketches - studies of elements for the big painting. 

I guess you can call this a warm-up. 

Braids - Back When The Year Begun

The Cat's Whiskers

Friday nights have been redefined! Friday night is art night. Don't bother to invite me out (I only go out on a Friday the 13th anyway), I'll be arting*, on little canvases like this one...

I didn't know what to get a friend of mine for her birthday. Then it hit me, she LOVES her cats (which is far better than hating her cats but you know what I mean). So, like a Facebook stalker, I copied one of her mobile pics, bought a 15x15cm canvas and started painting. This is how last Friday night looked...