1. You are a wife, mother, designer, and now an author – you wear so many hats! What does a typical day look like for you and your family?

I love hats - figuratively and wearing them! I want to frame this answer because what works for me is not for everyone. I’ve realized that I’m energized and happy when I have a few things in the works that fulfill different values. Mine are family / friends, community / connection, and personal art growth. Ideally, things are at different stages to avoid overwhelm and burnout. I’m strategic in saying yes. I consider if it’s helping me work toward a bigger goal, fulfilling, I want to help someone, or it’s just fun.

Short answer: it’s a bunch of random stuff in the cracks of time. A DM or email while I’m heating up my coffee for the 7th time, working on my laptop while the kids are having screen time. Staying up late if I have a deadline. The things that must get done are prioritized, and other things slide.

During the pandemic: The best answer is that I am extremely grateful to be able to work 100% remote right now (vs. commuting 10 hours a week M-F usually) to support my family. It would also be very different if we were not living with my mom to help her which allowed us financially for my husband to be the stay at home Dad. Each day feels absolutely the same and is a mix of all the feels. Everyone is doing the best that they can and some days are better than others.

Right now, we’re on a weird schedule and I am no parenting expert! My husband wakes up really early and does the virtual school and morning stuff for our son (2nd grade). I sometimes wake up early to watch TV with my son and cuddle before school, and then sometimes go back to bed for an hour or work. I work from 9am to 5 or 6pm for my available hours -- unless there is a big project requiring more time after hours (occasionally). I keep an eye on our 2 year old while I do my work on my laptop and she plays nearby or watches Sesame Street. Years of working in noisy open workspaces and being a mom makes me great with getting things done amidst distractions and chaos. If I have a conference call or need focused head-down time, my husband takes over. My priority is my dayjob during the week. I communicate often, give updates, and my reputation is that I work hard and meet my deliverables which helps if I need flexibility. I think of my remote working like in the office: instead of taking a 15 minute coffee break to talk to a colleague, I can talk to my son on his break, play with my daughter for a few minutes, or answer a quick email for Carve Out Time For Art or post on Instagram. Those mini-breaks keep me going throughout the day.

After work/homework we try to have some downtime or maybe take a family walk, figure out dinner (cooking or takeout), throw toys into bins, and wind down. My husband puts our son to bed, and my 2 year old has been going to sleep later during this spell. She chills with me or my mom and I may do some computer work for projects or art-making that is easy to pick up and put down, and then we go to sleep after a way-too-long routine of chasing my daughter around that I don’t recommend to anyone!

Weekends are where I get any painting or bigger art projects completed in those precious bigger chunks of time. So I try to allocate the tasks to types of time: heads down painting or collage work is when Sloane is asleep; answering emails or side project questions and watching an online class can be done next to the kiddos while they’re doing something alongside me.

2. How do your professional career as an Occupancy Planner and your pattern design work influence or inspire each other?

I really wanted to be a commercial interior designer in a more “creative” part of our industry. With the economy and other circumstances, it just didn’t happen like that. Over time, I realized that having jobs that were less fulfilling creatively led me to find that outlet elsewhere. So not getting what I thought I wanted led me to what I needed. My art and patterns are so inspired by the world around me -- everything is inspiration: shadows on the steps near work, a bright pink dress a coworker had that I captured in a color study drawn on my phone on a coffee break, or colors and patterns seen on my 10 hour a week usual commute.

I’ve noticed how project management and leadership skills I’ve learned in my corporate job influence the community work I do for our Carve Out Time for Art community. I work in spreadsheets and presentations often, find efficiencies, create processes, and use creative problem solving to take abstract problems into an actionable solution that is easy to understand. I’m a connector at work in my strategic role, and I finally realized that I can be in our art and creative communities as well. Learn from everything and transfer it to something when applicable is my go-to!

3. In your most full or challenging seasons, how have you still managed to create?

I don’t always, and remind myself that in my cycles of creativity or life challenges, there are highs and lows, but it never disappears! I also lower my standards so everything counts.

One year, my job was incredibly stressful with 60+ hour weeks. It was small moments of creativity that kept me sane. A few minutes on Instagram chatting with an artist felt creative. Sharing a photo of pretty turquoise porta-potties on a truck counted. Asking friends from Instagram if they wanted to have a “phone date” with me on my commute to get to know them better felt like I was part of the creative world.

That particularly challenging year, I completed the 100 Day Project. Each day I would make a small digital drawing on my iPhone (with a cracked screen, no less!) during 15 minute coffee or lunch breaks. I’d pick three colors I loved throughout the day, and make a quick abstract sketch to record it and post it on Instagram using #100DaysofNegativeSpace. It reminded me that I was still creative and could make something, even if it felt like a hot mess. I was doing the work!

Everyone is creative, and like muscles, creativity gets stronger when we use it. If you’re cooking dinner and cobble together a meal the day before grocery day -- that’s creating! Writing three pages in your journal? Counts! Chores while listening to an inspiring podcast or audiobook? Creative time! As creatives and artists, whatever we experience, it goes into our brains to incubate and may eventually influence something.

Tactical Tips: I really think that anyone can find 5-15 minutes to dedicate to something if you prioritize it. If you don't believe me, go look at your phone metrics or TV time and steal it from there first.

Don’t think you need the perfect space or setup. I made a paper collage at our kitchen island the other night. Keep supplies in a little tray or basket. Having portable projects that are easy to pick up and put down are wonderful (easy knitting project, embroidery, journal, etc...).

Create a portable kit or buy one already made. A small watercolor set, a journal dedicated to documenting new words learned in a new language, or an embroidery kit are good examples.

Doodle on a large piece of paper with your kids and enjoy playing. Everyone grab a crayon and chase each other on the page and crash into each other. Be silly. Bored playing Legos with your kid? Make something you’re interested in. A boutique! A Lego meal post-Covid with friends. I made an ice cream stand one day and got really into it for a spell!

Leave paper and colored pencils in the kitchen when waiting for pasta water to boil. Open a Google Doc and spend 15 minutes writing at lunchtime or when you wake up. Take a larger project and break it down into 15-minute chunks.

When my second child was born, I left a huge watercolor drawing and my palette on my table near the diaper station. Watercolor is so forgiving. I’d grab a brush and dip it in the water, and paint one or two strokes when I’d change Sloane’s diaper. It was just something not precious and fun which made me feel like I was doing something. Make it a non-negotiable, and knock it out! But also be kind to yourself - sometimes you just need a break. Take one and know the creativity will come back.

4. How are you seeing the fruit of your creative work blooming now from seeds that you planted long ago?

I like to call this creative compound interest. When you’re slowly putting in the work, it doesn’t feel like much in the moment. But when you look back over time, it makes a huge impact!

I think at some point, when you’re really putting in the work and being focused on your efforts, it can start to snowball in a good way. It’s hard to NOT get better at something if you’re giving it continual attention. This can apply to anything: learning to parent, figuring out how to play Minecraft with your kid (if I have more time someday I’m totally making a class to help other parents because I had such a learning curve!), cooking, or becoming a better writer or painter.

Some specific examples: A drawing I did on my cracked iphone during a coffee break at work was later published in a lovely book called “Palette Perfect” by Lauren Wager. The project itself was “100 days of Negative space”, where I was trying to be better at not filling up everything on the page. It honed my color sense, and also helped me find visual balance in my work that directly impacted how I create my patterns.

I discovered pattern design and slowly learned how to use Adobe Illustrator to create designs on Youtube while my son slept. I can remember hunched over on the carpet listening on headphones in the dark! Friends I met through Instagram encouraged me to submit to Minted. I won some awards and now sell work on Minted, including an apron (Happy Blossoms) that was featured in HGTV Magazine. I also got to be part of a Minted art show in Miami, meet the CEO and team, and am hosting a panel discussion with them on Artist Mothers in November.

I decided to start interviewing 10 artist mothers on my personal blog and created a hashtag #carveouttimeforart. I figured if 500 posts were tagged with #carveouttimeforart it would be a huge feat. I ended up interviewing 70+ artist mothers, met my creative partner Heather Kirtland through those interviews. We teamed up to figure out how to publish a book (The Motherhood of Art) went through three rounds of rejections, and five years later published it during a global pandemic with the introduction written by Danielle Krysa of The Jealous Curator, which was a dream come true. We organically created a community of creatives in Carve Out Time for Art that started as an instagram account to spread the words on our interviews. Over 800K posts have used the hashtag I started. We presented at Altitude Summit in March 2020 because of our projects, hosted in person meetups and virtual events, and are in the phase of figuring out what is next. The only thing we know is that we want to help people figure out the baby steps towards their big dreams and projects!

The most important is the friendships and support system that I’ve developed over the past five years. I started sharing my art on Instagram in 2015 and it changed my life in many ways. I connected with people (mainly women) all over the world who have become real friends and important people in my life that I value. It feels remarkable to be seen and understood by a like minded person who just gets it. You feel validated in your pursuit, and being part of a community makes you feel supported and empowered. I’m so grateful to every one of them.

5. What inspires you: as a wife, mom, and artist?

I’m inspired by moments -- big and small -- that I want to treasure. In my art, it may be an abstract work with colors and patterns I noticed, or a pattern based on tropical plants from a walk. I started some recent paintings that capture random objects that are sentimental or just part of daily life. My son was getting bored in virtual school and kept sharpening his pencils to nubs. My husband was getting so aggravated, because he was supposed to be paying attention. One day, seeing all of the pencil shavings and tiny pencils all around made me lose it laughing. So in one painting there are tiny pencils.

As a mom, I’m inspired by my daughter when she makes a joke or realizes she’s funny, or how excited she is to learn new words each day (Awesome! Butt! Outside!). I’m inspired by the empathy my son has when we have long talks before bedtime about feeling left out, why things aren’t always fair, social justice, and why COVID sucks. Sometimes he’s stalling, but it’s this special time together that I want seared in my heart. As a wife, I’m inspired by my talented husband, Mike East, who is a fine artist that is very practical and dedicated to his work. He absolutely understands why I want to make work, and supports that 100%. He shows up as himself, and fully wants me and everyone else to do the same. That’s the biggest sense of freedom to be accepted by another just as you are. I admire people who do what they want with their lives.

I’m also inspired by my mom and aunts who showed me that they still did things they enjoyed. My mom always enjoyed reading and passed that to my brother and me. My aunt who I was around a lot growing up had four kids and also made time to bake bread, read, or play tennis. When I became a mom, I wanted to dig into why the narrative changed for my generation that we couldn’t do anything for ourselves. Having a dad that taught us to always question authority was inspiring as well!

6. Do you have any favorite resources that you’d recommend to fellow creatives?

Argh… so many! The best resource is the stuff you actually use!

Skillshare is a wonderful platform to learn a specific skill or technology, from creating graphics to storytelling to creative writing. (As a disclaimer, I am also a proud Skillshare ambassador and have paid for my own classes in the past and believe in their platform. Feel free to use our code for two weeks free if you want: https://skl.sh/carveouttimeforart)

In 2015, two books helped me in different ways.

I loved Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Magic Art of Tidying Up because it helped me really dig in and think about what brings me joy. I don’t do all the steps or anything now, but going through the process helped me learn about myself. It wasn’t decluttering, but rather embracing what it was that I loved in my home and consciously surrounding myself with those things and most importantly, USING them or letting things go. (Side note, I wrote a blog post on how it helped me and it was shared 2 years in a row by a media outlet as an example of how weird the Marie Kondo fans were. That makes me laugh every time I think of it.)

The other was Essentialism by Greg McKeown (Exhale has a discussion guide for that one here!). We can’t do everything, but if we truly prioritize the most important things, we can make a greater impact. If you focus time and effort in one direction versus divide that time and effort in multiple directions, there's a big difference. I wouldn’t have done the things I’ve accomplished in the past five years without that advice. Granted, I had to let go of things to focus on my priority, but I knew it was not forever and it was worth it to me.

I’m also a big fan of Bullet Journals and this random slightly boring but very helpful book The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran. For writers, I loved Stephen King’s On Writing (our Exhale book club pick in April 2021!) and Annie Lamont’s Bird by Bird (Exhale discussion guide here).

7. Do you have a scripture, word, or mantra that guides your work?

You can do anything, but not everything.

Tied for second place: “We’ll figure it out.” and “What if…..?”

8. How do you believe motherhood and creative work complement one another?

Both are similar. You have a vague idea of what it will look like (being a parent or creating a new body of work), and need to learn new skills, problem solve, adjust expectations, and have patience along the way. Both are lifelong journeys, compiled of peaks, valleys, frustration, the greatest joys, self-doubt, and at the end of the day, the effort and love you put into both are always worth it.

Motherhood helped me in my creative work by clarifying how essential it was to me. I realized if art was what I most wanted to do with my limited free time, I needed to call myself an artist again. Having less time made me more resourceful, efficient, and confident in my art making. Motherhood showed me what truly mattered, and made me want to spend more of my life here doing the things I loved, and to teach my kids to do the same.

9. Have you ever wanted to throw in the towel and quit being an artist? How did you fight past that feeling?

Oh yes! I forgot I was an artist in those college years until probably my early 30s. I thought you had to have ideas all the time, or have special schooling. I didn’t think I was good enough and would diminish the work I was doing -- even though I was always creating. My younger brother passed away in 2005 of a heroin overdose. I started drawing more as a way to feel closer to him, doing something we had both loved. It also lit a fire in me to get over my own self-doubt and spend my time being braver with my dreams. I still had the time that he didn’t have, and I felt I owed it to him a little -- to go big and take him along for the ride.

And in the present day, I joke that I have a quarterly existential crisis. Why are we here, what is the point, etc… But I always come to the same conclusion: That if nothing matters and we will all be gone one day, then it can only matter that we enjoy and appreciate what we have now. If we love to create work and it’s meaningful to us, then just do it. Who cares what others think, or if your work is good. Make things because you want to. For fun, for pleasure, because you must. People may judge you regardless, so let them judge you anyway while you do what YOU want!

10. If you could tell moms who long to create as they raise little ones a word of advice or encouragement, what would it be?

Just start something! It doesn’t have to be anything major, require an investment, or even be shared. Also, you have already created a human (or created the bond of motherhood for friends who are not biological mothers). That’s the biggest creation! So you can absolutely do an art or creative project! If you need support or encouragement, definitely come visit us at Carve Out Time for Art or check out our book. We made it specifically to spread the message that you are not alone in your yearning to create -- especially now that you’re a mother. In fact it seems to intensify as you’re spending so much of your day taking care of the needs of others, and in a beautiful but also difficult and exhausting endless routine at times. It’s okay to want and need something more and something just for you. Be kind and gentle with yourself, and if you need permission, I’m giving it to you right now to spend hours this week on a small project JUST. FOR. YOU!

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