"Somehow once you hit the bottom, the choice seems easier. Stay there forever in the dark or get the heck out. It was now or never. Was I going to live this one precious creative life, or let it slip past, catalogued only by those angry late night doodles (and 3 amazing children!)? I picked up a pencil one day and started to draw (or maybe claw) my way up to where I am now. It’s been hard work. I committed to myself to draw every day, good drawing or not, and just keep going! That was 5 years ago now! I have wavered constantly, especially in confidence, but I’ve rediscovered my own style, and now I feel confident and strong in it. I paint every day and sell my work all the time. I can’t actually express the joy of it! I don’t know – and I do know – why it took me so long to make time for myself. But it is a dream come true. (At last!)." - Trudi Murray
"I am still very new to parenting, but I think it is important for my son to see that I have a creative life of my own. I am a strong believer in kids having alone time to play (sans technology) and let their imagination run wild, and I think I will set an example by showing him that I have my own personal time to be creative. I hope they will take away that even as an adult, they can aspire to continually use their imagination and creativity." - Jessica Levitz
"I feel like I have empathy for what it’s like to be a child. It’s hard work learning new things, trying to find out who you are and what you are good at and I feel like I go through that all the time. Also when I tell my kids you need to practice to be good at something, I am showing them that everyday. Plus they see how hard I work AND that I enjoy what I am doing. They also see the lows of when I don’t get a project that I wanted or win a contest that I entered. To show them how you can handle the ups and downs of life is a valuable lesson." - Terri Fry Kasuba
"My situation is unique since her mom and I aren't together as a nuclear family. So I lead two lives really, working artist in existential crisis and then rad dad mode. They are parallel but it doesn't mix in my situation when I have my daughter I'm in dad mode. My time with her needs to be extra special to me, This means my schedule needs to be flexible. I have no advice, I have no idea what I'm doing. My advice would be if your daughter asks to make the stuffed animal talk just make the thing talk because that's all she wants right now." - Mark Pernice
"I believe mothers have an invaluable amount to contribute to creative society. It’s all about balance. Knowing that my path in life is to be both a mother and an artist allows me to maintain a certain balance between the two roles. Being able to do both is a real privilege!" -Georgina Forbes
"Now it is a bit easier to find time as they are teenagers. They are less demanding but even as teens my studio is still in the dining room in the middle of the house and there are still constant interruptions. I didn’t have the option to not work outside the home or pay for childcare or stay home once they were in school. I couldn’t stay up late doing art because I got up early for work. I’m sure that I could have done more art. I really yearned to be a full time artist and have a studio and stay home. My focus was to have them here with me and know that I cared about their projects and show them that I was happy making things and they could be also. It worked out well, they always had something that they were interested in and now are very self directed and have that love of learning and making instilled." - Lisa Rydin Erickson
"If there is a way to take your art with you, I recommend it. Some people need soft music, a clean work surface, and total quiet to be productive and creative. My life doesn’t allow for these circumstances, so I keep my studio in my bag. There are small tools you can buy, but all it takes is a piece of paper and a pencil or a travel set of watercolors, and you can carve out some time wherever you go." - Samantha Dion Baker
"When I first was pregnant my creativity all but disappeared. Other artist mamas I talked to at that time said their creativity was through the roof - they’d never been more creative as when they were pregnant, but I had such a different experience. I felt like mine had completely abandoned me. And I felt like I was alone in that. And that combination was so hard.
But after I had my daughter, it ever-so-slowly started to come back. Especially as she grew enough to hold crayons or a paint brush. I saw how unencumbered she was with art - there were no rules in her head. There was no judgment about what was good or bad. She was wild and free. Seeing that helped start to break down my artist’s block and breathe new life into my art." - Penelope Dullaghan
"My experience as a parent has been a crash course in going with the flow, slowing down and enjoying the ride. Consequently, my art-making has become more joyful and much more process-focused than it used to be. I was a full time artist with an out-of-home studio space before my first son was born. So when I first started really working to carve out time to make art while caring full time for my kids, I viewed the new constraints on my time and on my work space as negatives. But the reverse has turned out to be true, which has been such a surprise! While I do have significantly less time for art than I used to, it turns out that I’m a lot more focused when I work in smaller chunks of time. And my family and household obligations force me to step away from my work (in a good way), so that I can come back later with fresh eyes. This really saves me from over-thinking and over-working things." -Kaetlyn Able
"I think having children has definitely made me more inspired! Since being at home with the children I have painted and drawn more than I ever did when working full time in my previous career (I was a psychiatrist). I also feel I'm much more open to new ideas, and able to appreciate the small things, as drawing makes me look more closely at the world around me." -Sonia Brittain
