Creativity + Motherhood : Finding a Balance

I love being a mother. I feel strongly that it has taught me more about myself and about how to love then any other thing I have ever done. I know it is my most important calling.

But sometimes at the end of a long day of mothering, the only thing I want to do is turn on the TV and turn my mind off. Check out. Okay most of the time that is what I want to do. The problem with that is that I am also a person who wants to be artistic and creative, and although I know I directly use those talents in my mothering, it is hard for me to translate them to a piece of art, or a photograph. I want time to think and envision and create and test. But that time slips through my fingers. When I am away from my children for 2 hours I start having thoughts I didnt know I had. How can I have that and be at home with my kids simultaneously? Is that possible?