How she does it: Caroline Walls

#HSDI is an interview series that focuses on working mothers – we talk motherhood, career, routine, self-care and daycare. We ask the things you actually want to know, like what they outsource, why they work, and how on earth they get out the door looking so put-together.

Caroline Walls is a Melbourne based artist and mother of two beautiful girls. For her, a creative career was always on the cards – it is the freedom and flexibility of running a business with wife, Emma, that allows them to share the demands of motherhood, work, laundry and everything in-between. Read on as the artist talks of working in the quietness of the night, how she and Emma function as a team, and the importance of wine with friends.

DD: Can you start by sharing a bit about your family dynamic – what roles do each of you take on that helps to keep the household functioning?

CW: I live with my wife, Emma and our daughter Luna who has just turned 2 years. Our second daughter is due any day now so our home is undoubtedly going to be thrown into that newborn chaos as we navigate parenting two children. I work from my home studio as a visual artist and Emma, works within my small business handling the back-end. We made the decision to work together in the business and forgo the second stream of income (a decision not made lightly) to allow us the opportunity to experience these early years of motherhood equally – we both felt strongly about being very hands-on while our children are young.

Working from home and working for ourselves has allowed us a lot of freedom and flexibility with sharing the parenting load and has meant we have been able to write our own rules in terms of the hours we keep and how we structure our day – with Luna being our first priority. We have naturally fallen into covering domestic duties based on our strengths, for instance, I do all the cooking in the house and Emma does the cleaning and washing. Looking after Luna is very much a tag-team effort and gender roles aren’t something we prescribe to as a two-mum family.
DD: How old was Luna when you returned to work and how did you feel about the transition?

CW: When Luna was born, I took a dedicated period of about 4 months off, before slowly entering back into the studio during her day sleep and as she had gotten older I’ve found I still tend to work around her schedule. Unless I am working on a solo exhibition or a large project that requires me to be in the studio for an intense period of hands-on paintings time, mornings are no longer in the studio. More often than not mornings are spent on a walk or at the park. I’ll start work around midday while Luna has her lunch nap. The evenings have become my time to respond to emails and I do a lot of my creative thinking when the house is quiet and everyone’s asleep. 

DD: Did you always envision you would be a working mother?

CW: Having a creative career I was passionate about and being a mother were always two things I knew I wanted for my future, giving up one for the other was never a consideration so I knew I would need to make the two work together somehow. It wasn’t until I began working for myself around 5 years ago that I fully appreciated that having my own business would give me an opportunity to define what motherhood day-to-day would look like, especially in these early years when parenting is so hands-on and all-encompassing.

DD: What does your career mean to you – why do you work? 

CW: My career is critical to my happiness and mental well-being, I studied visual communication and have always pursued roles in the creative industry in art direction and design. It wasn’t until I did a post-grad in contemporary art 6 years ago that ignited a dream to become a visual artist as a full-time career. I feel incredibly lucky to make a living doing what I love but on a more practical and less romantic level, I also need to work because it provides our young family with an income to pay our bills. 

DD: How do you work? Take us through your schedule.

CW: My daily work routine went out the window when I became a mother 2 years ago. Now I tend to work around our daughter’s daily schedule within my home studio. Prior to having Luna, I liked to keep a more structured schedule, getting up early and starting my day in the art studio but after becoming a mother my working schedule has entirely changed and it looks different every day. If I’m working on a commission or an exhibition I do work to a more structured schedule, starting work early and working through until about 4pm while the light is good in the studio. Emma and I have the ability to structure our working schedule outside of the regular 9-5 and that is a real gift in terms of prioritising a toddler’s needs but on the other side of the coin, it means that evenings and weekends can feel like workdays.

DD: How do you get into work mode and set boundaries around work and family?

CW: These boundaries are something I am still working on and are often blurred. Having moved into our new home 6 months ago I now have a dedicated studio space upstairs away from our living area and I’ve found that physical separation has really helped in achieving that clear boundary between mothering and working. In our previous home, I worked from our dining room which was open to our kitchen and living area and I found that to be really difficult differentiating between the two roles throughout the day.  

Setting myself realistic timelines for completing particular projects, alongside some often very long To-Do lists really help me to feel less overwhelmed. Having a written plan on a piece of paper in front of me that I can refer to and mark off as tasks are completed makes me feel much more in control, otherwise, things continue to run through my mind making it difficult for me to sleep at night. 

DD: What method of childcare have you opted for?

CW: Luna has recently started childcare two days a week and this has been a real game-changer in terms of structured productivity – having the home studio is such a privilege as it allows me to flow between motherhood and work but it can also make it difficult to focus. so Having these two days has meant that I can really put myself in an entirely creative, work-focused headspace.

DD: What do you outsource to help make life a little easier?

CW: Having us both at home juggling motherhood, business and the household means we tend not to outsource too much where we can help it. If one of us is particularly busy or tired the other can take the lead on that particular day, although takeaway one night a week and going out to dinner as a family on the weekend has become a bit of a thing as it’s one less thing to think about. We are also very lucky to have both our Mums not far from us so if we have something like an obstetrician appointment that we both need to attend, they will happily look after Luna for a couple of hours. This is a relatively new novelty and has been such a big help that we don’t take for granted as my parents use to live outside of Melbourne and only recently moved close to us. 

DD: What is your go-to morning routine to get you out the door?

CW: We always have breakfast together at the table around 7.30 am and then we tag-team showers and getting Luna dressed for the day. Luna is pretty good now with keeping herself busy with her toys as we prepare for the day ahead but I’m acutely aware that with our second daughter due so soon that our mornings are going to look very different until we find our new rhythm parenting two kids. Beauty routines are a thing of the past, it’s something I have really let fall to the wayside and now stick to a very simple routine of cleansing and moisturising.

DD: Do you have any go-to brands or a formula for looking polished in a hurry?

CW: Wearing black is my go-to formula for ease of day-to-day dressing and looking put together in a hurry when the morning or evenings are frantic – it’s also the tone I feel most myself in so I generally don’t stray from wearing it except for a few white or neutral tones. During the day I wear a lot of black linen dresses in simple silhouettes as I’ve found linen is hard-wearing and can handle all the climbing, cuddles and sticky fingers from my toddler. If I need to look more polished for a particular event I’ll always add a red lip – I have a selection of NARS matte reds that I like to play with. I love to wear well-made, unfussy silhouettes and am enjoying wearing brands like Marle, Arnsdorf and Alpha 60 as they tend to have the kind of aesthetic I am drawn to. 

DD: Self-care and motherhood often don’t come hand-in-hand but it is so important. What self-care practices do you have in place? How do you ensure you take time out for yourself and how do you make this happen and how often? 

CW: Fresh air, lots of walks outside in nature every day – we are lucky enough to live close to some beautiful inner Melbourne parklands. Catching up with friends over a good meal with some wine is also a critical component of my self-care. This may happen only once a month but it’s so good to remove myself completely from the motherhood role and feel connected to my old self and my friends who are also navigating motherhood, work and relationships.

Editorial note: At the time of writing this, Emma was yet to have their second daughter.

Interview by Jade Fox / Connect @carolinewallsart / www.carolinewalls.com