Sometimes it's hard to come up with a brand new idea. Wether it be due to the fact that you're locked in your house in the winter, or that you're brain is just not working right. Lately I've been turning to other artists to gain some inspiration. One example is the artist Alisa Burke. {You can check out her blog here: http://alisaburke.blogspot.com }
 
I found her blog while surfing through pinterest and now I'm a regular follower. I love how she shows herself on her blog through her creativity and through her family. She is the one who inspired me to get my rear into gear and get going on a blog.

  She has also inspired me to experiment with different mediums and not worry if something doesn't turn out right the first time. That has helped me a lot because I can be a real perfectionist in my creative endeavors and that just does not mesh well with creativity.

 On top of all that she has inspired me to let my son be free to create. I believe that you don't understand how much of a control freak you truly are until you have a child. At that point you realize just how hard it is to let them go and create all by themselves, because of course, you want to step in. She posts a lot about her daughter and how they all create together. This has truly helped me and my son to have a better relationship. Also, baby paint smears are great backgrounds for patterns.

  Being a single mom is a full time job. There's no spouse to take the kids off your hands for a few minutes, there's no extra money for babysitters. There's just you. While I've gotten lucky and have parent's who watch my son when I go to work, it's still no picnic. I assure you that my father groans and moans and complains every time he has to watch my son.

  Since you're all your child has when you're a single parent it's hard to find time to do things for yourself. Like, create art, read a book, do some yoga. Especially when they're 1 1/2 and want to show you EVERYTHING. To top it off, when they're asleep all you want to do is curl up in bed, watch some netflix, and pass out. I'm not saying I have it as hard as some women, not near as bad as some women, but it isn't the normal life for a 19 year old and that's hard for me sometimes.

  So during my sons naps I work on my art. I try to get as much as I can possibly get done, done in as short a time possible. I also clean around the house and have to cleanup any toys or baby food spills. It's a lot.

  The other day I got a yoga app on my phone and was all excited to try a routine to work on my muffin top, I checked how long the routine took...31 minutes. I DO NOT have 31 minutes during a nap time to do a yoga routine. 5? sure. 20? It's stretching but possible. But 31? They must be insane!

  So this begs the question, what do you guys do for quick free fitness? I'm trying to work something out but Lord knows I just need more hours in the day.

  Well, after today I am officially done with my freshman year of college. Exciting and also extremely scary because next year I need to get all my crap together and really buckle down.
  The past couple of days have been a sort of summer for me. I've turned in all my projects, I've hung out with my son, I've worked on some art. Which has been really nice. But I haven't allowed myself to totally let it all go and be in summer mode because I knew I had a test today. My only final and the last thing tying me to this school year. Art history.
  Don't get me wrong, I love art, and I honestly enjoy history. But those two combined aren't always interesting. I've just been cramming for it and now I'm taking a break before my sons asleep to tell you guys about some stuff I've been working on.

  So in about 17 days I will be going to spend 3 weeks with my grandparents. Just me, my son, and my family who I don't see often enough. I am extremely excited, yet sort of stressed. Besides figuring out all that we need to pack, I also need to finish my grandmother's birthday present. Her birthday has passed, but I promised her I'd bring it with me when we came to visit.
  For her birthday I'm creating my grandmother a sort of art journal/book. What I do is I take a book that is either too boring or too awful to read again, I paint the cover, and I go nuts on the pages. With hers I'm stitching about three pages together each time to give them some strength to hold the paints and other things I do to them.

 I'm honestly super excited to give her her gift and it got me wondering, could I sell these art books? I'm always in the market for a new idea. But here's the question. Would it sell? What do you guys think? I am honestly asking for your opinion here. Would you buy a book that had handmade art inside, quotes, photos, and paint and the like. That could be customized to you?

  I am a fantastic procrastinator and holiday's are no exception. Especially mothers day. Over the years my mom has gotten coupons, cards, pieces of art, food, lets just say that I like to DIY. Not only is it cheaper, but it means something to her. This year however, I want to DIY something great. On top of making a card I've been sifting through some of the following ideas:

 At the moment I am living in my parent's house with my son. My son and I get separate rooms, which is nice. But this means that I don't get a room to be my studio. A place to spread out all my supplies and just go wild. Since I most likely won't get a space like that for a while. I've had to make due.

 I have a fantastic artists table set up in front of a window, next to that I have my dresser. My dresser is completely clogged up with all of my paints and gouges and brushes and inks and pens and anything else I could possibly use for my art. It's a chaotic mess but boy do I love it!

 In my printmaking class we are finishing up all of our projects (3, Luckily I'm done with one already, but boy is it stressful). My favorite project that we're working on is a woodblock. Now I may have talked about this already, but I guess that just shows how much I'm enjoying it. There's something about working with wood, carving it away and revealing an image through it that is wonderful. It's different than any other medium I have experimented with in that you are, sort of, one with your piece. Now don't think I'm going all hippy dippy one with the earth, it's just comforting to feel the wood move under your gouge and see what you can create. The best part is probably how, when you print the image, it looks totally different then what the cut did. Which is surprising, but so cool.

 Since I've been working on that I found a small piece of wood in my room and decided to go wild with it. I did two of my flowers that I doodle and draw a lot.