How do you make time for art when you’re a parent? How do you fit it all in?

These are questions I’m often asked and I come across regularly being discussed in posts on social media.

In this blog I share some of the things I’ve found make it easier to fit creativity into my busy life as a mum of two young children (Arya age 3, and Evie age 1). I hope you enjoy reading it and that maybe it will give you some ideas you could use to help you fit your love of creating into your own daily routine.

#artistmother Truths:

I recently shared this photo on my Instagram feed:

The post caption was: ‘#artistmother.

Scene: Family life at the kitchen table / artwork in progress at the artist’s studio’.

Before I go on to tell you my 5 tips for fitting art in to my day, I’d like to firstly give you an idea of what my artist/mum life is like at the moment.

Not every day is like the one in the photo. That day my lovely husband was home for the weekend, we were able to spend time together as a family and I also had time to create art.

Some days pass much more like a whirlwind! Neil has been working away from home and I’m often with the girls myself. We have a lot of fun, laughter and cuddles, but days can be a blur of nappy changes, negotiations with a strong-willed 3 year old, nursery drop-offs and pick-ups, strapping two wee ones into car seats (usually while standing in the rain), trying to make sure the dog gets a decent walk each day (also usually in the rain), baby classes, etc etc. 

Our days are full, and I have a lot of balls to juggle and keep them all in the air while also finding time to be me – an artist. If you follow me on Instagram you will probably already know I recently left my job as an art therapist, following taking a year off on maternity leave after having my daughter Evie. My intention is to be at home for my daughters as much as I can while they’re young, and gradually grow my own business as an artist in whatever time I have available. I’ve been really fortunate that my mother and father-in-law have been able to look after the girls twice a week for me, which has given me time to work on my business and create art. However, they’re visiting family in New Zealand for two months at the moment, meaning my art and work time just now is mostly limited to when Arya is at nursery and Evie is having a nap, when I can keep my eyes open long enough to get on with anything at night when the girls are in bed, and when my mum is able to look after the girls for me.

It hasn’t been easy sometimes, but I’m grateful to have the opportunity to spend so much time with my girls while they’re young, whilst also doing what I love and creating art whenever I can.

Here are my 5 tips for fitting creativity into life as a parent:

1. Have a functional workspace in your home where you can quickly and easily make use of small snippets of time to create.

Ok, so not everyone is going to have the luxury of a separate home studio where they can leave work out and go back to it whenever they have time – I know that’s definitely my dream! I’d love for us to build a studio at the back of our house where I can work from because I think it would really help me create a better boundary between work and family life. But to be honest, I actually think what we’ve created in our home probably suits us best for now. We have carefully planned a multi-functional space in our kitchen, in which I can create at whenever I get a chance, but it’s also easy to quickly clear my things away and make space for our meals so we can still sit down together at the table as a family. If you can find a small space in your home that has all your essential art materials close to hand, it could make creating art much more accessible when time is limited.

What I’ve found works well is to have a good-sized table, and then have as much storage as your space will allow. I have a set of Ikea ‘Alex’ drawers, which are perfect for paper storage as well as keeping things like the coasters I’m working on. I also have an inexpensive 3 mesh drawer unit underneath the table, which mostly keeps all of my resin materials in. But all the materials I use most often, such as my alcohol inks and brushes, I keep in containers on pegboards on the wall. Having these commonly used materials easily to hand is probably my main tip for making art accessible when you only have short time to spare. I found that decluttering my supplies really helps, and although I do have more art materials in various storage containers around our house, the things I use most often are easy to reach at my workspace.

2. Work small.

This is something I do a lot. I find if I only have a small amount of time to paint that I can be much more productive doing smaller pieces that I can finish quicker or are easier to put away if I don’t quite manage to finish them. I really love working big, but I often find it’s not very practical if I have to leave a large piece sitting out to dry. When I work small, I work on multiple pieces at the one time, making the most of the time I have available by moving on to another piece while a layer of a painting is drying. I go between a few pieces until they are all finished.

3. Work on a series/collection of works.

So as I described above, I often work on lots of small pieces at the same time. Another thing I feel helps is if all the small pieces are part of a series of works of the same theme. This means I can really dive in deep with a particular idea, without necessarily having to explore it on a larger scale. Doing several smaller pieces in the same style allows me to easily flow between the pieces and expand on the ideas I have with each piece. For practical reasons, it also has the advantage that I can use the same supplies over the range of paintings I’m working on, meaning that I don’t have to take lots of materials out at once (and hence less mess and less clear up time).

I also think this is a great way to develop your style as an artist, and to become more confident in your own artistic expression. Quantity generates your own artistic style. I find that after I’ve made a series of smaller paintings, I’m often then ready to scale those ideas up and try out a larger piece. Then I’ll wait until I know I have a longer stretch of working time available, and I’ll use that time to focus solely on the larger painting.

4. Creative play time with your kids

Please don’t underestimate how important this time can be not just for your little one, but also for you as an artist! Playful exploration of art materials is so important for creativity and can really help to prevent you from becoming ‘stuck’. I don’t paint with Arya as often as I’d like to, but I try hard to make time for it at least a couple of times a week. I find painting with children can be so inspiring. They create with such freedom and without the self-consciousness we tend to develop in our creative practice as we get older. For young children, art is simply play. It doesn’t have to be anything else.

When I sit down to paint with Arya, I definitely don’t come with any intention to create a careful, well thought out piece of art. I try to get alongside her and see the materials through a child’s eyes. We splash and drip paint on the paper, we use ALL the colours, we get our hands in, we try using other objects and we experiment with what marks we can make. The result is usually a wonderful exploration of colour and mark-making.  I usually make a point of holding our piece up at the end for us both to take a moment to look at, contemplate and reflect. We share perspectives on what we see. It is a truly special thing to share with my daughter and I always leave our creative play sessions feeling invigorated and inspired, which I have no doubt has a positive influence on my own creative work.

(I just wanted to add as an aside here, I do sometimes paint with Evie as well, but she’s still quite young and my attention is usually mostly on trying to stop her from eating the paint! I really look forward to her joining us more as she gets older).

5. Try to be kind to yourself and set realistic goals.

This would be my most important take-home message of this blog. The juggle of being a parent and trying to make time for yourself; whether that’s to paint, craft, read – or anything else! – can be really hard and often pretty stressful. Be kind to yourself. It’s just not always possible to fit everything in. I’ve had days where I’ve found myself feeling guilty I’m not spending enough time with my kids, then feeling guilty I’m not making time for my art business, and before I know it I’m in a downward spiral of self-destruction that helps no-one and achieves nothing. I’ve realised I sometimes just have to accept I’m not going to manage to paint today, and that’s ok. There will be other days. My children are young and I’m trying to enjoy being in the moment with them, and fitting my art in when I can. Likewise though, sometimes the housework just has to wait! If I have a small window of time I sometimes will ignore that huge sink of dishes and the overflowing laundry and I’ll sit down at my desk for some time for myself. Often, that makes me feel better and ready for the rest of the day.

Related to being kind to yourself, I also think it’s important to try to set yourself goals which are realistic. I’ve seen creative challenges on Instagram such as ‘paint every day’, and suggestions that if you really want to fit in time for art then you can. My opinion is that although this might work for some people, I’d say it probably can lead to a lot of people putting unnecessary pressure on themselves and feeling failure when they don’t quite manage to make time for art. If you do choose to do these challenges, again just be kind to yourself if you don’t quite manage to put paint to paper that day. Some people find a daily sketchbook to be an excellent way to keep creative juices flowing every day, and only a few marks on paper each day can be enough, so maybe this might be a manageable way to fit art in if you want to make sure your doing something creative every day.

What works for you? Do you have any other ideas you would like to share? I’d love to hear from you and always welcome comments on my website or Instagram posts. Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you found it interesting to read a little about my experience as an artist/mother.

Jenna x

P.S. Did you know I’m currently doing a sale on my luxury silk scarves? Click on the image below: