tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632655288073740255.post4967978772608588851..comments2023-10-04T08:58:04.024-07:00Comments on awesome. mama.: in time, on time. slowing down: a reflection.awesomamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16470214002963712590noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632655288073740255.post-1507610703396048172013-06-28T12:13:37.081-07:002013-06-28T12:13:37.081-07:00thank you so much for sharing your experience, suz...thank you so much for sharing your experience, suzi. i not only have two young boys, but also a teenager. i know how it's all too fleeting and how these moments should be savored (and they are). <br /><br />when my oldest was young, i was a single mom - i went to uni and worked, sometimes full-time with a full course-load, and my relationship with my oldest definitely suffered. now i stay at home with my children and homeschool the younger two but still feel the pressure to make art that sells or else all the time i take away from my family and domestic duties is for naught but as i process through a past laden with guilt, i understand that i NEED the time to create regardless of the financial outcome. <br /><br />i need time to myself and sometimes it only comes when i get studio time. all of that is about to change as my teenager transitions back into our home and i will likely no longer have a studio. right now, in this moment, today, i'm trying to look at only the good possible outcomes and not dwell on how sad i am to lose the creative space that i worked so hard to feel i deserved. awesomamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16470214002963712590noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632655288073740255.post-62623028615217300032013-06-28T12:06:46.492-07:002013-06-28T12:06:46.492-07:00thank you cameron! thank you cameron! awesomamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16470214002963712590noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632655288073740255.post-7346320312005928112013-06-19T02:15:00.327-07:002013-06-19T02:15:00.327-07:00I hear you too Valeri, what a wonderful post. My g...I hear you too Valeri, what a wonderful post. My girls are now in late high school and uni studying art, and I am a full time artist. When they were little the pressure to work full time was huge. Big bills and self imposed pressure that I been trained to work. I thought I could do it all, to have it all and I ended up with nothing that I enjoyed. So I stopped, turned off, tuned out and connected with them, played silly soap games, dress ups and painted our plates with food. Back then social networking was on the horizon but fortunately wasn't part of my way of connecting. Blogs were just beginning so I was able to escape seeing, but I still heard what other mums got up to. <br /><br />I have come to realise, I can have it all, just not at the same time. Now each day as they need me less I get more and more time, it's like a flower opening up. I kept my hand in where I could to my creative life and now I am finding my feet albeit a few kilometres behind other "out there/do-it-all mums" but I have walked at my pace in my time, in my way to destinations they have not been to. My girls support me now, knowing what I gave them and they say they want to be a mum like me too. <br /><br />Being a mum is THE MOST creative thing I have ever or will ever do. Slowing down, connecting, being their enough to know when what you are doing isn't working, taking the courage to change, just as in a painting. Life is not a script, we don't get to do it twice and no one can tell us what is good enough except ourselves in the quite moments when no one is looking, when we are alone. <br /><br />Did I do enough? Was it perfect? I don't know, but I did love the opportunity to do it, to be a mum, some women are not so lucky. Tune in, drop out and enjoy the love children so abundantly give. No amount of money can buy that. Blessing and joy to you. suzi polandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02880281542997166017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632655288073740255.post-49386756285322455692013-06-17T22:35:33.710-07:002013-06-17T22:35:33.710-07:00I hear you! It is bleeping hard...I feel that my c...I hear you! It is bleeping hard...I feel that my creating moves at a snail's pace sometimes...that when I find the time, I just sit and stare at a blank canvas letting the guilt and pressure seep in because I am supposed to be making wonderful art. <br /><br />I don't know how some of the other Arty Mamas do it either....they are something to aspire to, for sure....<br /><br />I love that you took the time to type how you feel...and turned it all around to a positive at the end....<br /><br />You're quite the inspiration yourself ;PCameronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14435728791853628468noreply@blogger.com