guest post: ONE-HANDED ART by Hannah Stoney

I have two children and I am an artist. Shayla and I have that in common, as well as the fact that we are both married to genius musicians.

The other day, as Shayla and I were watching our kids play she said "it's funny how they slow you down and speed you up at the same time." It is such a true statement that it merits a "yes" with an exclamation mark: yes! Shayla, you said it. Ain't that the truth.

Slow-You-Down.

Oh the double-edged, slow-you-down sword.
My smallest one is almost eight months old and over the last few weeks, I have just started to get back into making some art. I am in the zone. I'm inspired and I have about ten projects backed up in my head and I keep getting lost in line drawings like a tetris playing teenage boy. I would love to be able to just run with it but it's just not the season I am in. I have two small, beautiful people who trump it all.

Of course sometimes it feels frustrating but overall, the slow-you-down part has its own story, its own strange and playful fruit. I am slowed down enough to notice beautiful things. I am slowed down enough to make different kinds of art and explore different mediums. I started writing poetry during long chair-bound breastfeeding sessions. I notice more on our toddler-paced walks and take richer photos with longer stories behind them. I started making tiny videos whilst facilitating parks and playtime. And of course, there are crayons, costumes, race tracks and glueing.

Fallen Walking from Hannah Stoney on Vimeo.

Levi Bang gets the bus from Hannah Stoney on Vimeo.

Speed-You-Up.

It's a bit of a joke amongst my friends that once I get to my desk I am hyper-productive. Two-hands time is a precious commodity these days and so when I get it, I go for it.

It makes me feel a bit geeky to admit this but I also have a read/write/draw system. I have little projects, notepads and books dotted around my house and in my diaper bag and whenever I get a moment (and it usually is just a moment), I pounce on one of these activities. Many of my projects are the culmination of weeks of ten minute here-and-there steps. I am learning to be increasingly OK with. staccato. pacing. (See what I did there).

Here are some recent speed-you-up fruits. In the last month I have been working on shadow boxes, line drawings and paper cuts. I've been working towards all of these things for half a year. I'm not sure if I am really fast or really slow. ~

Hannah Stoney is a dedicated mother, writer and music lover with tons of talent, fashion and quiet kindness in her clever hands. She hails from across the pond and we are so lucky to have stolen her, along with her musical high school sweetheart and darling boys to help class up our town. I'm proud to have a piece of her art hanging in my home. check out her blog at the thinks.com.