With all the chaos lately, I haven’t prioritized art like I’ve done in the past. I acknowledge that a painting takes set up and settling in that my schedule lately hasn’t afforded, but thankfully I’ve been stretching my creative muscles in small spurts as I update this blog and as I work on projects alongside my kids.

I try to remember that even if I’m not creating fine art and I haven’t completed a painting in a while, there are many ways to commit myself to visual art in ways that my current schedule allows. One way is by working alongside my kids to create and/or to follow the lead as they suggest a project and see where I can stretch it to fulfill that creative itch.

You can work on your art without working on your art

Even if you’re not laying a few thick layers of goopy gesso upon a freshly stretched canvas, you can still prepare for your next work of art by honing your skills different ways: through cutting paper snowflakes, doing quick drawings, or thinking outside of the LEGO box.

What do LEGOs and paper snowflakes have to do with Art?

Whenever you take the extra time to really see something, to look at an object deeply, you’re fulfilling the first step of a creative act. Artists—visual, performance, written—are Artists because instead of merely looking at the world, they see the details. Whether it’s movement from a slight breeze, a subtle texture, or capturing the exact body experience of an emotion, artists capture these details and mirror them back to those who experience their creations. It’s a super power, really.

Art starts with seeing things, and experimenting with new ways to see them

Doing quick sketches alongside my young son still improves my ability to draw. When I make something out of nothing, or LEGO, I’m still stretching my creative mind in new directions, making it more pliable for future solutions.

Though I haven’t made fine art, I’ve created

I would like to gather these small creative acts and let them culminate to something more. I’ve seen how taking a quick photo daily last year when I decided to have more fun getting dressed has culminated into a fun thing I call ‘Fit Pic Friday this year, and I’d like to see the same evolution with my art—something more important to me than fashion.

Examples of Everyday Art

Uterus Snowflakes

My kindergartner came home from school one day having *re*discovered paper snowflake cut outs (we made them last year. No recollection, but he was obsessed this year.) We started making them and I was in the midst of an endometriosis flare up, so I honored my uterus and acknowledged that, like snowflakes, no two uteri are the same.

My son got really sick of my uterus snowflakes, so I threw him a bone and made one inspired by Disneyworld Fireworks.

It was a rare occasion when both my fifteen year old son and my kindergartener were creating the same project at the same time, so it was a huge win.

Hare LEGO

I was making LEGO projects with my son on the day that I wrote about Consistency in 2023, and decided to make a little turtle for the featured photo.

The following day, I made a hare in the same vein. My youngest hadn’t heard the story of the tortoise and the hare, and he liked my telling of it so much that we role played with the lego figures.

Collaborative Mother & Child Art

Sometimes we draw side by side, especially when he illustrates his little books. He’ll add some touches to a sketch

Or his idea—“cloud people falling from the sky”, right, will encourage me to experiment with my own interpretation of what a cloud person would look like, left…and he’ll correct my drawings of clouds, also left.

Sometimes a sketch gets away without his additions, like this one I started on for a future post

How do you incorporate creativity into your everyday life?