Summer is breakdown time for artists who count on the local public school system to keep kids out of the studio and rightly occupied so creativity can continue to happen on a schedule. If you're a work-at-home-artist like myself with little to no budget for summer camps, how do you make the summer months move you forward no matter who's underfoot?

Research and apply to artist retreats and residencies for later in the year. This is one of those important tasks that artists tend to neglect when in the throes of a compelling project. Why not bring that laptop to the kitchen counter and power out some applications while the kids debate peanut butter or jelly? Mid-year when you are writing your heart out at Soapstone or soaking up the inspiration at ArtFest you will make this a summer priority every year. See Deanna's blog for a wonderful collection of tips and tricks for the application process.

Beef up the blog. Your kids might not let you hole up in the studio for three hours, but pass out the popsicles and steal an half-hour on the computer and no one will mind. Add images to Flickr, add new artists to your blogroll, clean up your Etsy store--a little housekeeping in the blog department will be one less thing you have to overhaul or tend to when your time to make art comes back in September. And while you are at it, why not back up all those images? As someone who has had three fatal hard drive crashes in the last two years, I promise you won't regret it.

Organize your studio space. During the school year I am quick to finish a project and plow into the next one without properly organizing and filing my latest accomplishment. I've learned that summer is a good time to make sure all the madness covering the studio floor makes it into proper files for future reference and safe keeping. Add to this any upgrades needed in the studio--new chair? new drafting table? new scanner?--and you are ensuring your fall and spring studio time is majorly productive. Check out the on-my-desk blog for inspiration.

Clean up, clear out, declutter. Last summer I had this strong sense that I needed to spend the summer systematically clearing out my house. I resisted, not realizing that I would spend the coming year embroiled in major art projects and international travel that required an unprecedented amount of time and attention. Almost daily, I regretted not listening to my intuition as each new pressing deadline threw my house into new levels of chaos. This summer I'll be preparing for the future by making space and creating order that will serve me all year long.

Stock up on supplies, materials and visual inspiration. When my kids were very young and I was a new artist, I spent one summer on the front porch painting collage papers while my kids played in the yard. With nothing to do but play with color and accumulate stacks of paper, I inadvertently created an arsenal of powerful art materials that fueled my creativity for many months to come. Other summers I've dragged the kids to art museums, promising a ride on the Smithsonian carousel after they had their fill of Romare Bearden, Georgia O'Keeffe or Jackson Pollack. So far, no one has been disappointed.

No matter what, your schedule will return to normal come fall and you'll be all the more ready to dive into your art if you use your summer months to prepare. Do you have any other art-savvy tips for summertime blues? Leave your two cents in the comments below.