There’s a lot of people who have asked me why I didn’t paint at all or draw much while I had little kids at home. The answer is two-fold. Both practical and spiritual.
For twenty years I have lived in small spaces. We now make our family home in what many would consider a small rowhouse on Capitol Hill. And to be honest, there just wasn’t space for much, not even a dedicated LEGO table.
The other thing is that raising children was a very creative endeavor for me. I have only recently realized this. It’s not that I wasn’t being creative while I was raising my children from babies to big kids, it’s just that I poured my creativity into the most wonderful and draining job there is! Feathering our nest for our family or curating a book list for the kids were wonderful creative pursuits I enjoyed. It also took all my brainpower and creativity. Not only was there not really time or space for other interests, I didn’t even think about taking anything on, because my plate felt very full emotionally, spiritually and physically.
Today our dining room table still does double duty as a homework table and dinner table. But as soon as our four-year-old went off to full day preschool in 2022 I pushed our toy storage unit into a different position, opened up our sometimes-board-game-sometimes-lemonade-stand plastic folding table and went to work creating watercolor paintings.
I’ll tell you more about why I chose watercolor over acryclics or oil in a future post! Hint: it involves two naughty three-year-olds!
XOXO,
Anne