“I had a long day at work. Let’s work in the studio tomorrow.

The next evening.

“I’m too tired. Let’s make today a rest day and we’ll work on art tomorrow.”

Have you ever experienced this? This is what we go through almost every night.

Jeff works a day job in a production & design company. Maysa teaches art at an elementary school. Once we enter our studio we feel drained and don’t have the energy for our passion projects.

The question we ask every night is,

“How do we make time for art?”

There is no right answer but what works for us are two things: accountability and mindset.

Accountability Partners: Find someone who will keep you accountable to help you achieve your goals.

Accountability: What are your dreams/goals? One of our goals is to showcase and sell our art at shows. To help push that accountability we apply to shows and make works for upcoming events. This helps set our accountability and a deadline for projects.

Mindset: Instead of feeling bad about not creating a full illustration, we shift our mindset to what we can do with the time we have. We divide our workload into small chunks.

We remind ourselves, “Show up in the studio and work on one thing.”

Believe me. Starting is the most difficult part. There would be times when we don’t work on art for weeks due to working overtime with our day jobs. We would take a week off, and that week would turn into 2 or 3 weeks to a month. We begin to question our work-life balance and our projects. We remind ourselves this is part of the journey.

All journeys have a goal. Remember your why and the purpose for what you do.

Once you start on a project, you will find your routine.

The photos in this blog are Maysa’s process for her Mini Originals.

Day 1: Cut Paper

Day 2: Sketch the Drawing

Day 3: Watercolor/Ink

Day 4: Finish Watercolor/Ink or Sign Artwork

Weekends: Photograph During the Day & Frame Work

Sometimes we fall out of the routine but it’s all about getting back to that routine and finding what works.

Feel free to send us a message and let us know what you think.

You can find us on Instagram @Crafted_Lore or e-mail us at TheCraftedLore@gmail.com .