Painting Parent - Sharon Pomales

Painting Parent -  Sharon Pomales

How many children do you have? What are their ages?

We have between us 4 sons (21-24) and 1 daughter (8), three are my husbands, two are mine, but she's the only one who lives with us.

How did your artistic career begin?

I've been drawing and painting since I was 8, my dad was an artist too so as soon as he saw I had talent he encouraged and supported me to develop it.

What is your Parenting/work/art situation?

I paint during the time my daughter is at school, I leave her there in the morning at 8 and at 8:10 I'm painting. I usually skip lunch and stop at 1:50 pm to go pick her up at school. When we get home I make her lunch and do homework, then, I go back to the studio which is in my house so it's pretty convenient, my daughter also has a space in the studio to sit and make art if she wants to. At 5 or 5:30 I stop again to prepare dinner before my husband comes home from work, and I don't go back to the studio unless I have a deadline, in which case I will work until 9:30-10:00.

Do your children get involved with your art?

My daughter likes to draw and paint, that's why I made her her own art work space in my studio, plus she is also my model for many of the paintings.

Do they inspire aspects of your art?

Mariana is definitely my muse, I know every part of her so well that I could draw her blindfolded, I guess it also helps that I love her Infiniti times Infiniti times Infiniti :)

How has having children changed your artwork?

Sometimes I think that I don't paint certain things because I don't want to embarrass or offend my children, specially the older ones.

How does making time for artwork influence other household tasks?

When it comes to household tasks, I established that I would only clean on Fridays.

Have different ages of your children been more difficult to make time for artwork and in which ways?

When the kids were very little it was definitely difficult to work. I also had a full time job until a few years ago so painting used to be part time. I never participated before in any competitions or were part of any art organization until last year even though I've been an artist for more than 20 years ( but that's another story for a different blog :))

How do you encourage your children to be artistic?

Mariana says she likes art so I get her all the supplies she needs and I'm currently looking for art instruction for her, something like an atelier or art academy. I also take her to museums and every opening for shows (mine or someone else's).

Do you feel extra pressure as an artist to raise your children to be artistic?

But I don't feel any pressure to raise her to be artistic, she'll be what makes her happy.

Do you think being a parent affects the way you are perceived as an artist?. I don't think being a parent affects the way I'm perceived as an artist, but who knows what others are thinking

Are there any other things about Balancing Painting and Parenting that you would like to share?

 Here I'm including only the paintings I've done of all our kids since the blog is about the parenting side of the artist. The last one is something my daughter did for a competition.

www.sharonpomales.com