On My Easel 4/16

Normally Mondays and Fridays are my studio days.  The kids are at school and I ignore the dishes and the laundry to work on my painting and illustration projects.  BUT, this week is vacation week so my studio time looks a bit different.

I woke up this morning and made pancakes.  Once all the little bellies were full I told my two kids that I needed to get some work in the studio.   Until lunchtime and they would have to entertain themselves.  Luckily it was a warm spring day so that meant they could go outside.  I was able to put the finishing touches on my two double spreads and emailed one of them ("The Magic Paintbrush") as a submission for the poster contest at the Conference I'm attending this weekend.

"The Magic Paintbrush"

That was all I was able to get done before it became apparent that my two kids needed my more focused attention. We were all just a little testy with each other.  SO I put down my work with the intent to get back at it once I had put them to bed for the evening. Instead the three of us dug and weeded our garden boxes.  A little fresh air and physical labor seems to help my mental state & that in turn seems to help theirs.  

Then it was a trip to get my daughter a new dress for a recital coming up followed by a trip to "Mima's" house.  Her dock was just put in the water this morning so the kids put on their swimsuits and had a water fight (it was still a bit cold for swimming.)  A trip to the grocery store on the way home, making dinner, reading books and finally the kids are in bed and sleeping.

All of this is just a long winded way of saying vacation sometimes feels very un-vacation like.  

But I am here now putting my portfolio together for the conference.  

Tomorrow I will attempt to squirrel away more time in the studio, but we are planning a nice long family bike ride as well.

"Althea & Bird"