Wow, okay, there was this ‘thing’ that happened the other night. I’m not quite sure what was happening, but when I share this with other moms, they tell me that it starts to happen more and more, the longer I am a Mom. I’m not sure how to process this, so perhaps writing it all out will help.
There was this one day this past week, where, between the girls dance schedules, and everyone’s gymnastics classes, my dental appointment, school work, etc., we found ourselves with an evening with nothing planned. I know, it was amazing! What happened though, was that we finished dinner, and it was still early. Like, it was dark out because of the time change, but it was only 6:30pm. I sat down on the couch, because when we have our busy days, after dinner is late, and we just have time to sit and unwind from the day. At this point, usually, the kids are usually ready to cuddle and relax before bed anyway. However, when I sat down, I realized, wait. I’m sitting here by myself. The kids are doing THEiR OWN THING. They were PLAYING TOGETHER and were not screaming at each other. They legitimately were playing nicely together. I sat on the couch for a moment feeling useless. I didn’t want to get up, because that might draw attention to me being there. But I didn’t want to get sucked into electronics either. Especially since the eBook I want is on hold from the library. And TV is not really stimulating at that time of night, and I figured the lights and sounds would draw the kids in like moths to the flame. So I was stuck with my thoughts, and nothing at my fingertips to do, but to think about the 100 things I would like to be doing with all of this new free time.
Dont get me wrong though, it was pretty amazing. And then somewhat sad to know that my days of constantly being needed by the little ones are slowly shifting to be fewer and farther between. At 3 years old, the youngest is pretty much able to keep up with his sisters, and they incorporate him into their imaginary play. It’s pretty sweet to watch. These other Mom friends I have shared this with say that it happens more and more and more as they keep getting older (I’ve asked them to stop doing that too, getting older, and they just won’t do that either!). This made me realize, I have got to prepare for these times!
So, I looked around (Because I could do that without drawing attention to myself), And I realized, I could transform this portfolio…..
into this portable art kit and carry it around for just these times!
I received this portfolio as part of a thank you for some work I had done with an art therapy conference recently, and I really like it. It is fancy, and it zips closed. But I tend to write all of my notes in my bullet journal and carry that everywhere for notes, calendars, to-do lists, etc., so the legal pad that came with it, probably would not be used. (I’ll post more about that bullet journal soon. There is a new year coming up, and I have a system that works really well for me, so I will show you how I get that bullet journal up and going for the new year. Plus, all of the art I am working on right now is for Christmas gifts, so I can’t post those right now without ruining some surprises).
Meanwhile, portable art portfolio…. if you check out the outside, there is a zipper. This will keep everything contained inside. And I am not sure if you are an artist like me, but I am a mess. I tend to just pile things, and I really am trying to contain it and be a good example for the kids and keep my mess manageable. I’m sure my husband will appreciate the sentiment, even if there are colored pencils, sharpies, and random pieces of string lying around at all times. It is the thought that counts!
So, what did I put in here? I wanted everything to fit, but I also wanted to add things that would be useful. So I took out the legal pad, and added a pad of pastel paper. If you are not familiar with pastel paper, it generally is thicker than a regular drawing pad, and it has more of a tooth, or a texture, that will help bring out a rich texture of chalk pastels and charcoal. I have been doing more and more charcoal drawings lately, and I wanted a place where I could have a portable studio for charcoal drawings. Going back to basics! Now, a legal pad traditionally is 8.5x11in, while most drawing papers and pads are 9x12in. I was worried that it wouldn’t quite fit, and when I first added the drawing pad, it fit, but it was very snug. I didn’t want to get frustrated by the zipper catching, so I modified the backing board a bit by trimming off about 1/2 an inch off of the right hand side of the back cover. See that blue part there? That is one of the colors. It is a mix of colors; very nice!
I just used my scissors. It was easy!
Then I needed to fill up the pockets! I have been interested in recycled materials for art making, so I had a few largish pieces that I cut off the face of a few cereal boxes that had a nice texture and seem to be a good tone to go with my charcoals.
I used the papercutter at work and trimmed them all down to a manageable size of 8.5×11 in and put them in the side pocket.
On one of the fronts of the cereal boxes, I adhered several strips of painters tape.
I like to use painters tape to trim out the edges of the paper when I am drawing or painting. I feel like it gives a nice clean border after I am done drawing and lift up the tape, and it will come off of the slick surface of the box pretty easily, and still be sticky when I add it to my drawing/
I also added a tiny ruler to the front pocket, and added some additional smaller papers to another pocket. For my drawing materials, I repurposed a tin that once held some curiously strong mints, and put in an assortment of charcoal colors, and a few different erasers that I might need. I enclosed them all in a small sandwhich bag, because let’s face it, charcoal is messy. Keep it contained. Finally, I fit a small piece of artificial chamois that I like to use to smooth out my background into the container;
This tin will *hopefully* keep everything contained, and hopefully keep my charcoal from breaking into a million pieces! 
All of these items have fit inside this art portfolio!
And it zips closed!
And you can put your business cards in there too, so when you are out in public, or waiting for your kids to finish up their dance class and someone starts to watch you draw, you can advertise and increase your fan base. So much fun!
Next time, I will post some additional ideas you can use for your portfolio. Because if you are like me, you go through phases, and being able to keep your portfolio ready to create what you are in the mood for is absolutely golden! Especially during those times when your kids are keeping themselves entertained and you cannot make any sudden movements or they will start asking you to do things for them. Enjoy, and feel free to share and pin for later!