A Sad Day For Creative Folks…

On a previous post, I raved about my favorite magazine, Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion.  I had heard a rumor that it was going out of publication, but I thought I had debunked that rumor.

I’m sorry to report that I was wrong.  Today’s mail brought notice of the magazine ceasing publication.  What a sad note to wreck a Monday that was pretty bad to begin with.  I felt like I lost something precious. 

I spent many hours with this magazine, soaking up the inspiration and creativity of lots of other artsy types.  I will miss that.  I feel like I’ve lost a friend.

A Creative Companion for Creative People

While I have tried to be more conservative about my budget, one item I could not do without was my subscription to Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion magazine.  What a feast for creative people!  I get excited when I see the magazine in my mailbox…I can’t wait to turn the pages.  It is filled with artists and ideas and inspirations.  If you haven’t seen this magazine already, you need to get ahold of a copy really soon. 

I had seen an Internet rumor that the magazine was ceasing to publish and I panicked!  But after visiting the website I am now calm again – my bi-monthly fix is still alive!  Hurrah!

From one artist to another, take a minute to check them out.  I think you’ll be happy you did! 

Life is Just So…

A Little Holiday Sparkle

Years back there was a quote by Mary Engelbreit that said “Life is just so daily” and that just about sums up my life the past several months.  The essentials take over everything and crowd out creative time.  At our house it’s been sickness.  I had planned to use my January break to get caught up on things and have lots of unstructured creative time.  Ha!

I have had two -yes, two – bouts with the flu.  I am just feeling better, and this morning my son woke up sick.  January is nearly gone, and with February my final semester of college begins, meaning I will be buried in coursework.

Life is just so….daily!  Single motherhood is just so…intensely daily! 

Many hours while I lay sick, great ideas came to me.  The brain seems to go on being creative, even while the hands can’t.  I wrote things down, I made plans in my mind…all things I planned to do once I felt better.  But then life got “daily” again.

I miss the days when I could sit down and do art projects with the kids.  I didn’t even mind the messes so much because I could do something creative, not just the “daily” chores.  Now they are older, and while they still want me around, they want their cell-phones, iPods and xBox’s, not an afternoon of art.  They are intensely creative, just not in the same ways as me.  My daughter wants to be a graphic artist.  Making a video is her artistic outlet.  My son is talented also, but rarely wants to sit still long enough to paint.  Football beckons, electronic stimulation calls…

Life keeps on being “daily”.  How can I find time for the artist inside?