At home I am always driving, picking up, dropping off, cooking, cleaning, laundering, doing homework, fretting about things. My family takes up at least seventy percent of my brain; my kids, how they play together, how they fight together, their friends, their friends’ parents, their teachers, their hobbies, my husband, the neighbors, the dog, the hamsters, the busy-ness goes on and on and doesn’t turn off. When I am in the studio, I can escape the family-life grind. Don’t get me wrong, I love them dearly. But the time in the studio lets me escape the worry-loops and hamster wheels. I can make new little worlds in my imagination. And in real life, a few times a year I can load up the van with my art booth full of paintings of my own little worlds and go on a journey (by myself!) to share that with other people. I do have to say, art festivals are my favorite way to get a moment to myself. And I see the the other parents there too - photographers, potters, painters, sculptors, art makers of all kinds having a weekend of work and play where we get to be individuals again. We get to share our individual, inner worlds with other people. And many of those people are parents too, bringing kids with them or maybe leaving them with a sitter for the day, to see some imaginary worlds in an artist’s booth at an art festival. Maybe they even take a souvenir home. Its’ quite remarkable really.