Parenting + Creating...Come again?
How I managed to squeeze in making art for myself on a family day trip out. From FLT's Learn to Create series. Subscribe for future editions!
From Folk Like These Learn To Create Series
Okay first up, this post is just to show you how I got a bit of time to myself to knock out one quick sketch. It is not meant to make any other parent feel less than for not creating on family trips out, but more to give a realistic depiction of how I got it done.. spoiler, I didn’t really parent!
So about 10 minutes before we were all due to get in the car and go out for the day, I thought, I would really like to get a bit of drawing done today. My newest son is 12 weeks old and I hadn’t drawn a single thing since before he was born. I didn’t put pressure on myself to create in that time but the joy starting our Substack had given was a great reminder that any form of creating really is good for my soul. With that said, I was completely unprepared. I ran up to our studio with our 4 year old in tow and grabbed a few pens and pencils (as well as pens and pencils for him), my sketchbook (as well as a new sketchbook for him ‘and Grannie’), a random pencil case I had knocking about and 4 pairs of scissors (at request of him).
With a little thinking ahead whilst grabbing materials, I had an idea to draw the front of the national trust building we were going to visit - Upton House. We are national trust members and since deciding to leave the West Midlands, collecting as many of the house stamps as we possibly can has been given new urgency. Drawing buildings is not something I am particularly comfortable with but was on my internal ‘need to practice’ list so this hurried decision to create, limited materials and forced time pressure to make quick decisions meant I didn’t have as much time to build up the ‘you can’t do that’ voice.
We arrived at our destination with Grandparents along side and started to explore the grounds of the - new to us - Upton House. It’s such a beautiful destination and crucially, has a great sized National Trust cafe serving highly coveted Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Tip No.1 for all adventures, is make sure everyone is full. I handed out the art supplies we had brought to my oldest and Grannie and watched them play with the materials. It was really lovely to see them have a go and get straight into creating with absolutely no hesitation - even if my internal child was a little put out I was not yet able to join in - as I fed my youngest.
Tip No.2 is send off the children. Tummies nice and full, toilet trips had for everyone, I sent off my children, husband and grandparents to look around the main house. I would also add that any additional adults you can put in this group is an added bonus as the ratio of child:parent/grandparent can really buy you a few extra minutes of time alone! I ran to the nearest perch I could find, pulled out my materials and got to work asap.
Tip No.3 is there is no need to finish. So I knew I was on the clock for how long I had, and I set about not finishing a drawing exactly, but wanting to experiment with the materials I had brought and layering them up. I could do this in a tiny part of my drawing and it wasn’t important I finished it to feel accomplished.
Soon the front door opened and my little gang came running out. My oldest was super happy to see me drawing away and to see what I had been up to. He wanted to join in straight away giving me a precious 60 seconds or so to finish up. We packed away and I was grateful I hadn’t had longer to draw as I realised my entire bum and legs had gone numb in the cold! In essence, pawn your children off to your partner/grandparents with a clear activity and lower your expectations for what you can achieve on borrowed time!
