'I hate it when you paint!' This is what my youngest son has said to me on countless occasions. I don't blame him for feeling like that. Sometimes I spend hours painting and he has to entertain himself. Even though I'm trying to earn an income, it's hard to explain that to a nine year old.
On top of that, some days the painting doesn't go so well and I feel like I've wasted hours of my life that could have been spent with my family. Of course this is never the case – a bad painting day really sucks but I learn so much from my mistakes!
So what to do? Stopping painting just isn't an option and that feeling of guilt isn't just going to go away...
I could tell myself that I do it all for my family. That I paint to make money, to provide. But that's only half true. I HAVE to paint. It's my passion and, in truth, the only thing I'm really good at.
The goal has to be to find a better balance.
So to all those fellow artists out there or anybody juggling work with family committments: go easy on yourselves, have a day off once in a while and really make that time count.
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