I made a painting recently that smacked of motherhood to me. Nursing specifically.
Yep, I'm thinking about babies. No, I'm not pregnant. Yep, I am fascinated by all the babies I know, all the toddlers I see, and all the mommies who still make art. That's simply amazing to me. How does an artist balance the responsibility of motherhood with day-job and income-gathering and making art? And then the work of getting it seen?
My friend Deb emailed me recently that she'll have a show in New York and I promise to fill you in with details when I know them. She is a momma, she's a painter, she's magic.
There's a whole world of representations of pregnant, nursing and mothering mothers. From Demi to The Art of Motherhood, it's in there and I oughtta look again at the images that women who are mothers have made of mothering. Like Alice Neel...
In wandering online looking just now for a Peggy Bacon motherhood image, I found instead a fantastic Library of Congress cartooning and caricature show with a smart Peggy print about vanity.
Time for me to get back to painting in the time I have allotted.
take good care, troublemakers, and more soon,
Rachael
Oh and see Junebug if you haven't, it's lovely and all about motherhood and other assorted mysteries. Makes me miss my friend Toni even more...
