Artist and Musician mamas?

[Ishtarbella]

I was wanting some feedback.Im feeling like i really want t ostart a band and some art and am wondering how to mix this with parenting at home,i am also wanting to unschool as well.......any ideas and experiences shared would be helpfull,Thanks!Esther

[menanny]

Just Do It!

Hi, Ishtarbella. I'm the mother of 2 boys, nearing their 6th & 3rd birthdays. They play so well together and the weather is finally getting nice. When they're outside I can steal time here & there to work on my art -- portraits are what really turn me on at the moment. I've taken numerous drawing and painting classes and am currently taking a sculpture class. It was really hard for me to give myself permission to leave the kids with a babysitter and go to class, but I loved it once I got there! Now my sculpting class is at night, so I leave the boys with DH. I'm also going to start taking to boys to a babysitter once a week so I can stay home and draw, etc. This time is especially important to me because we homeschool (unschool, basically) and it's important to recharge my batteries without children and during the daylight hours. At night I'm too tired to recharge!!

Follow you heart on your artistic desires!! I have a secret desire to be a drummer. My mother was a piano teacher but never got around to teaching me, the youngest of 3 daughters and the least motivated piano student. Consequently, I picked stuff out by ear and wrote a bunch of my own music. Sadly, I cannot sit down at the lovely grand piano my husband bought me and bang out songs for people to sing to (this was his dream when he got the piano for me...but my mom does it when she comes down!).

It's HARD WORK to pursue your art. You have to look all the time for opportunities. Especially with kids around.

Well, someone's crying in the next room...

What instrument do you play? What kind of music do you want to make? What kind of art do you want to make?

[Ishtarbella]

Go for it!Ithink you can still be a drummer!Were unschooling too and after getting aqainted with it,im getting all exited about things IVE always wanted to learn as well.......Yes,I too feel too drained to do it later.I think when i had a babay,I thought i had to give up my desires and dreams .like I was so afraid it would take away his care........i dont know why,i wanted to err in the side of caution,maybe because my mother always left me being a dancer..............but anyway,i "rediscovered "about a year ago my favorite band ,i saw them play and WOW,i was fascinated!I met several fans on the net and theyve given me such euphoric joy...I think this is because theyve tapped me into my own creative spirit,see growing uop i always had the dream to sing or be a performer,my twin sis actually sings opera........so im thinking of creating songs(my partner is a musicinan too and i had issues with him being gone so much with his band)and i got a theramoin for my borthday(you know that instrument that makes the old spooky noises from the horror films?)to experiment with itIm wanting to do more things wit hmy hands.crafts......sewing .molding things from clay...........i love doing artwork with him as well............im thinking maybe if i had some creative going ,id have more energy.......feel connected to things.does that make sense?

[artemesia]

I used to paint, write, act, sing but it's been a long time. I just recently got turned on to playing the djembe though, and I am totally addicted (In fact, my djembe just arrived today). I've been taking dd to drumming circles with me and she loves it. It is wonderfull to have a creative activity to do together.

[LIBRAS MOM]

artist and musician mamas?

Hi just read your thread and the book The artist way by Julia Cameron comes to mind. It has creative assignments , artist dates and encourages you to keep a morning jurnal. It helps to get your creativity flowing. Hope this helps

[Luma]

Ishtarbella, the theramin?! thats an amazing instrument, the first time we saw it we couldnt believe our eyes with this man pulling strings in the air! its so cool, dh always wanted to get one, maybe some day...
I too love painting and clay... and find it so hard to find time to do it, but feel so much better and recharged when I do paint.
I am starting, to try leaving ds with a nice woman once a week and its been great so far (twice!) but I also feel guilty and sometimes scared of leaving him with anyone else, although I know I need that time for myself! Im on my way though!!
way to go mananny!!

[leafylady]

My husband and I are both metal artists. He also has a full time prof job that provides the steady income.
It is difficult to find time to focus on the art work. My husband and I split our work days. He gets the mornings. I get the afternoons. We give each other more time when one of us has a job to finish up.
I have one 2 1/2 yr old boy and a 2 month old girl. With the nursling, I find that I get about 45 min out of every hour to work. The studio is next door and my husband calls me home to nurse when she is hungry.
My work habits have changed in the following ways.
1. I use my time wisely. I can do my work much faster than I used to, and I don't fool around. This is good in most ways, but doesn't allow for much spontaneity.
2. I spend my time on paying jobs and work hard to get the kind of jobs that I want to do. I have started charging more $$ and am choosey about what I will do.
3. I don't have time to do projects just for myself. I'd love to do more experimentation or to make my own garden trellises and things for the house. However, with limited studio time, I need to use my studio time for the jobs that will pay the bills and build up my clientele. I don't mind because I still love what I do and I know my children will grow up fast, faster than I realize.
4. I don't get the sketch time that I need. I used to try to spend at least 15 minutes a day sketching. It's essential to creativity. I look forward to spending more time sketching as the kids get a little older.
5. I don't have time for my other creative hobbies, like obsessive needlework (similar to my obsessive metalwork). I love detailed nit picky textural realistic but dreamy designs. Again, I assume that I'll get to do needlework again sometime, when the kids get old enough not to eat pins and needles.

[Sandra Dee]

YES! I totally relate. In the midst of a postpartum...hmm...fog? I am feeling the need to foster the "me". I enrolled in school full-time this fall (evenings and web courses) and am going to get my art degree. I figure this way I can make the mess somewhere else, kwim?

Those of us that have an artistic soul need to let it out once in a while. Sure, smiley face pancakes and decorated birthday cakes are fun...but it's nothing like accomplishing an oil painting on hand-stretched canvas.

[rianna]

Hi..
I have a 21 week old and I am just starting to get a life back. I am starting a band (i am a singer) and I will be playing 1 night a week. I dont kno how I am going to do this since my dd wont go to bed without me and wakes up alot in the night and need the booby. But, I am going to try. I also just started a buisness doing massage, my dh is just starting his buis, and he works 5 days a week waiting tables. I will let you know how everything works out but all I know is... it has to!

[stirringleaf]

a theramin!!!! (sp??) oh my gosh it has been years since i thought about one of those, i am so envious! anyway i thought i would throw in my world of creative energy trying to bubble through the new mommy me.... i was in a couple bands like in the mid 90's. i play clarinet, and was also in a "free jazz" band..and i also write, i wrote tons of poetry and did readings and self-published and all of that was just a huge part of my identity, until like 3 years ago. then it all kinda went by the wayside for whatever reason, and now i am starting to want it back! i am the very guilt ridden owner of several musical instruments that just SIT (always a pet peeve of mine, the unused instruments) and i feel like my artist self is trapped inside of me somewhere. THEN recently i went and bought a bunch of acrylic paint, and WOW thats been really fun, stealing a few moments here and there to paint. i have very litttle experience painting, but i have always dabbled in it. i painted this picture last week , i had this dream about a painting and i painted it. its really odd looking and everyone who sees it hanging in my livingroom looks at it with a scrunched up nose but i tell you, it felt so great bringing it into being, after seeing it in a dream! just to paint something that was truly from inside of me, you know? it even feels good to not feel worse when people look at it like: , i dont know, it is just this liberating thing.

i have been wanting to take guitar lessons, and oh i also love dance...ohhhhh i am aching to take dance again!

anyway it is my beleif that if you want to do something, if you truly truly want it, you will find a way . starting a band sounds just awesome, and i am sure you could find a way to practice, even if it is just once a week for an hour , you know? thanks for this thread, it just got me all inspired thinking about all these things.

[Luma]

this is a cool thread, I have actually find-made more time to paint and Im loving it, I feel an addictive personality taking over, I want to paint more! more! more!!!
its so much fun, in fact what am I doing here?

[barbara]

We have been un-schooling for 15 years and let me tell you it is a great way to stir creativity in yourself as well as your children. un-schooling is a way of life and once you find your rythum you will have ample oppertunity to enrich yourself in the midst of enriching your children. Sometimes there are certian things that have to wait untill a nurseling grows up a bit, but just remember there is a time for every season. All of our 7 children are musical, very artistic and creative. They grew up around it and it was the natural thing for them to persue that path also. My grandson is already showing musical inclination at 11 months!

So go for it!

&
~b

[maplelief]

Wow! and Go For It is what I would like to say to all the women who have posted on this thread! It's so encouraging for me to hear women pursueing their artistic dreams, and that having children doesn't mean having to give up everything.

I enjoy drawing and painting and photography especially, although I don't seem to always have the time with a very active 3 year old. But in listening to all of you, I think I can figure out ways of getting him involved, and making it fun for him, too.

Thank you to all of you for opening my eyes.

[fw5blue]

Definately go for it! I was hoping there was a board specifically for artist and musicians. I'm a musician and writer (there is a writier's board which i posted). I have to say that before i had children, i never took my art seriously. But afterwards, I had so much to say about my life and the world. I say it all through music and writing. I sing with guitar and piano, writing my own songs and would love to start a band, but I'm still a bit nervous about the time to put into that one. Yet, I just put together a demo cd this summer and plan on recording an album this coming year. I'm starting unschooling with my dd this year. Hey, so is there a connection with unschooling and artists? I can't stand the thought of doing school at home with my kids, way too constraining.
good luck to all the artistic mamas out there!

[barbara]

so is there a connection with unschooling and artists? I can't stand the thought of doing school at home with my kids, way too constraining.

Most deffinately!!! Us right-brain types need the freedom to be creative, and the freedom to be creative encourages children to do so!

~b