Studio Blog — Motherhood

Summer. The middle of the year, full of the longest days, the hottest days, the sunniest days. Every day I found myself in search of shade, shelter, and rest. Someone needs a snack, a nap, a hug. Summer is the season of my biggest output and when my biggest growth occurs. Except it doesn’t always feel like growth, most days it feels like chaos. Beautiful chaos. Sunscreen spattered, dirty feet, sticky popsicle faces, broken shovels, beautiful chaos. No wonder when you look at the ”seasons” of a woman’s life that summer directly corresponds with the season she is a mother....

There’s a fun story behind this piece. These exact chairs were arresting place at one of my favorite beaches after I had given birth to my first baby. Every morning, I would walk down to the beach with the baby in one arm in my cup of coffee and the other. I would see these chairs and I would sit and drink my coffee and nurse the baby and watch the waves crash Off in the distance. This was my first “encounter” With the beach where I wasn’t seeking sun. I was searching for shade shelter and a place to...

As part of my ongoing Artist in Residency on “Motherhood”, I’ve created work surrounding how this season of my life makes me “feel”. The theme of “women in chairs” emerged as a subject to paint after I gave birth to my third baby. It was during the post-partum period following his birth that I continued a series of self portraits I had started during my previous artist in residency called “The Playful Project”. My self portraits evolved to include my newborn and various patterns of his swaddle and my blankets and robes as I nursed him each day.  These photos...

"Onshore" was a theme or a concept that came to me in 2020. Typically when I have a child, I have an intense period of rest for about a year both physically and creatively. In January 2019, I welcomed my daughter into the world. That year was a period of intense rest for me. I was during that year or period of rest, I started to explore how and exactly why my personal life and my paintings overlapped. I began to go through my personal film, our family photos, and noticed at that time that I was always finding photos...