The Artistic Mother

I am ECSTATIC!!!! about this book, The Artistic Mother: A Practical Guide to Fitting Creativity into Your Busy Life by Shona Cole, and I cannot wait to get my copy. I browsed though it at the Barnes in Nobles at Cross County and it is definitely the book to have if you are a creative mom trying to squeeze artistic time into your life. If you have read my blog for some time, you know that this has been my challenge. I do carve out time to work on my my clothing line, Nelesc Designs, and this provides a great creative outlet. However, recently, I have been wanting to make more collage art like this, which I posted in March and I think this is the book to jumpstart it given that Shona herself is a collage artist. Since I can only work on my personal art projects when the baby is not at the sitter, I am looking forward to hearing about Shona's tips on creating more time for self expression.

Here is what you will find in her book:

• The Artist’s Workshop, a 12-week art course that teaches you how to bring creativity back into your life

• Step-by-step instructions for more than 12 finished art pieces celebrating motherhood and family

• A weekly action plan to help you make the best use of your time

• Artist Spotlights that introduce you to 7 inspiring artist-mommas

• Tips on creating time and space in your life for your art

• A beginner’s guide to each of three much-loved arts: poetry, photography and mixed media

You can purchase the book at various Barnes and Nobles or here at Amazon.com. Shona also has a wonderful blog which I also follow. Check it out at http://www.shonastudio.blogspot.com/.

Monday's Muse

So what is inspiring me these days? I always like to join with http://www.maternalspark.com/ to discuss this very question. In her blog, Heather says, "one of the biggest lessons I’m trying to learn is that just because I don’t have all the time in the world, doesn’t mean I don’t have time to do something. If I have 10 minutes, I can do 10 minutes worth of something creative." Sound familiar? I am always complaining here about my lack of time, the fact that I hate creating without long stretches of time but I think I have embraced the 10 minute dilemma. My fabric cuffs were the start of this and now I have been having fun creating t-shirt shrugs/vests with some of my left over scrap pieces. After cutting the pieces it practically takes 45 minuters to an hour to complete. they are great little shoulder toppers or add a sense of color to a black ensemble. Here are some pics of one I made. I need these short-on-time projects to help me feel productive in between the larger ones.

Heather also recommends looking at http://www.onehourcraft.com/. I LOVED browsing around this site. I totally recommend it if you are creative and are short on time.

Recently Maternalspark.com asked readers when they felt most creative. I have been wrestling with finding more time to be creative. More and more I realize that it doesn't matter when I am most creative, if I want to accomplish anything I have to push myself during those times that I don't necessarily feel creative but have a little window of time. I am learning to work piecemeal which is hard for me, I like big bulks of time. So i cut a sleeve now, pin later, later on, i sew it, etc. It's not ideal but I recently have been accoplishing more like this instead of waiting for the kids to fall asleep. Many a times I have headed to my sewing machine bleary-eyed only to plop my head on whatever I was working on.

By the way, maternalspark.com is an amazing blog. Please go and read it, it will not disappoint.