Parallel Time: On side-by-side drawing, the art of parenting, and the creative ethos
By Nick Zaremba
The little guy and the big guy
My son Ziggy is the little guy and I am the big guy - we sometimes refer to ourselves as this duo around our house or when driving to the local cafe to get a cookie on any given Saturday.
We have fun.
We both like Al Bowlly songs.
We both like when Mom comes home from her ballet class.
We both like to look out at our lawn and see the crows eating bread we just put out.
He’s seven now and he wakes me up most days by gently placing his hands on my face and rubbing.
His teachers tell us he’s the most artistic student in his class.
His Legos are all over our living room.
Inspiration flows between us
My newest zine “Bed Time | 52 Drawings by Nick Zaremba,” is a compilation of just that. A compilation of all the drawings I have made while we lay side by side drawing, me on his couch and him on his bed, every other night around 7pm-ish when I put him to bed.
Ziggy’s go-to drawing tool is any random pencil around his room so I decided to take the same route. I haven’t used a pencil to draw in years; usually it’s black pen. We both just seem to quiet down and focus on releasing drawings onto the paper. The simplicity and uncomplication of just letting go and drawing what comes to mind is so freeing, and once in a while we stop and show each other what we have been drawing. His eyes light up and mine do as well.
He inspires me to free flow.
We make drawings and we go to sleep, the next bedtime we both look at what we drew our last night together and smile.
Life + Living + Daily operation + Parenting + Being creative + Intuition + Ethos
I realized a long while ago that, for me, the best type of art is the most intuitive, improvised, and naturally made kind. I love it when other people admit to that as well. It’s hard for me to look at or experience artwork that is contrived and planned out - that is great in a commission setting or for hire setting, but not when it comes to raw creativity.
I feel like 99% of being an artist is just seeing things differently and going from there. If byproducts are made within or because of that process, that is the art.
I see differently
I see my day differently.
No matter how bogged down I get in one of my jobs or stresses or learning and implementing new parenting tips there is always time that runs parallel to the chaos to gently carve out to fit something creative into it. This helps me balance. It is always cathartic, and has always been for me. It just has to be for me. Maybe it’s my ethos to always be making and expressing myself artistically or my strong sense of intuition but my day has to have something creative to engage in to feel like myself.
Anti force with a hint of rigidity
Can an expression really be forced? Is there a rigid path to creating?
To me, force implies that I’m thinking about the product or outcome way too much.
To me, being rigid is sort of a good thing, a good thing meaning sometimes you have to remain a bit rigid to make sure you actually get the idea out of your head and into fruition.
My philosophy and perspective are that art is a "byproduct," suggesting that my view of expression is as something that overflows rather than something you pump out.
In this view, using force is actually counterproductive because it interrupts the very perspective that makes my expressions mine.
My ethos is less about forcing a specific outcome and more about a rigid commitment to the habit of expression. I am not forcing the what, but I am insisting on the when.
This zine contains 52 drawings made with a No.2 pencil during bedtime with my 7 year old son over a period of 3 months.
Bed Time | 52 Drawings by Nick Zaremba
Black and white | 5.5 x 8.5" | staple bound | 52 pages | digital printing | first printing | edition of 20 | hand numbered | made in 2026
Available here
About Nick Zaremba
Nick Zaremba (B.1979) is a Multidisciplinary Artist residing in East Sandwich, MA with a diverse background spanning graphic design, mural work, branding, illustration, pottery, painting, sculpture, video, and animation. In addition to his studio practice, he works for hire on commercial projects, collaborating with brands and organizations to create custom visual work across physical and digital platforms.
Zaremba’s studio work fuses bold color, layered textures, and playful abstraction across paintings and sculptural assemblages, often incorporating spray paint, acrylics, and found wood. His work channels a raw, intuitive energy—balancing street art aesthetics with fine art sensibilities—creating pieces that feel both spontaneous and deeply personal.
His work has been exhibited in galleries across New York, Japan, and Canada and has led to commercial collaborations with globally recognized brands, including Pepsi, Vans, Converse, Bodega, Toy2R, Grillo’s Pickles, Cisco Brewers, Endstate, and Neiman Marcus, as well as being housed in the collection of world-renowned collector Takashi Murakami.
