A Typical Day

One of the art chat rooms I belong to is having a discussion about an artist's typical day. It has been interesting to read about how my day is similar to other art/moms, and so nice to feel like there are other people like me out there! So I thought I would write about a typical day for me and see if it struck any chords with any of you.

6:00 A.M. Time to rise and shine. I thump on my teenager's door on my way downstairs to make sure he gets up and is ready on time for the carpool to school. (There are no school buses to the schools we go to, as we are kind of in a no-man's land between two towns). I read my e-mails while I eat breakfast.

6:30 Drag preteen out of bed (sometimes literally) to get her ready so we can be ready for me to drive her to school at 7:15. Get home at around 7:30. At 7:35 get call from preteen that she has left her flute/mathbook/homework behind and I need to go back and deliver it.

8:00 Start work. Get computer stuff done first, like research, business correspondence, blog,etc. If it is going to be a hot day, I'll usually take a walk about now, while it is still cool. When I get back I turn to the BBC radio on the computer so I can listen to comedy and radio drama while I work. American radio doesn't seem to have those sort of shows, and I do enjoy them. There is usually an Agatha Christie mystery, or an episode of Dr Who, and there are lots of comedy shows.

9:00 Start painting. I usually bop back and forth between the drawing table and the computer. While a layer of paint is drying I can be Photoshopping on something else, or scanning in finished pieces. I have been so very busy lately that I have to use every minute! I could really use an assistant, but I don't earn enough to pay one!

10:00 Time for a cup of tea (and usually a cookie (or two), which is why I don't lose any weight!)

Check e-mails again, then back to the drawing board.

11:30 Lunch and a shower. Brief conversation with Mr Right (he is an editor and works at home too)

12:30 Start painting faster as I'll need to stop soon!

1:30 Leave the house so I can get grocery shopping or other errands done quickly before driving the afternoon carpool. I have to go to two different schools, so we don't get home until 3:30. I'll try to get a little more work done, unless kids have activities or appointments that they need to be driven to. It will make my life a lot easier when the senior offspring gets his driving license!

5:00 start dinner, 6:00 eat dinner, 7:00 help with homework.

8:00 Before I quit for the day I will start sending any high res files to clients. I have to do this overnight, as it bogs my computer down too much to do it during the day.

Even on the weekends though, the art is never far from my mind. It drives my kids nuts the way I have to take reference photos whenever we go anywhere! Now it is summer, so the schedule will change a bit. I'm trying to get up earlier so I can get more work in before the kids get up and need to be driven to their activities and stuff. Somehow though, I still manage to squeeze in a painting a week. I know a lot of people who are faster, but my work is very detailed and takes a while. What are your days like? I wonder how Blogger will re-arrange everything I have written this time? I keep trying to lay it out properly, but whenever I click "post" it just rearranges itself.