"I love you. You're the best mommy (and artist) ever in the universe. Xoxo xoxo Love, Nell.
P.S. Hug me next time you see me."
--recent love note from my 10-year old daughter
"Mère et son bébé," painting by Eugène Carrière
Happy Belated Mother's Day! To celebrate, I am sharing some of my favorite mother-and-child paintings from my pinterest board, Mother and Child. I didn't include the famous ones (notably, Mary Cassatt) because I wanted to highlight some less-familiar paintings.
"Rest," painting by Anna Nordgren
Honestly, I didn't really have a great mother's day myself. I spent most of the weekend working on cleaning out my mother-in-law's house (she passed away 3 months ago) and it was emotionally difficult. I tried to empty out the clothes in her closet, but I spent a lot of the time just sitting in the closet and crying.
"The Laundress," painting by Honoré Daumier
Being a mom is hard. I'm really struggling right now, trying to keep all my "balls in the air," and often forgetting important things, and getting overwhelmed. I recently had a conversation with a local artist about being a parent, and I found myself wondering why I had chosen to become a mother in the first place. It's just so hard. I'm not sure I put all that much thought into it at the time; I was young and eager to participate in life, and I guess that's why...
"Street Crossing," painting by Zoey Frank
Maybe it's not all that important why I became a mom. The fact is, I get a lot of pleasure from the experience. It's basically chaos-saturated-in-love. Plus, my family gives me a lot of ideas for themes for paintings. (Like my storytime sketches.) And also, I get a lot of cuddles...
"Madonna of the Cotton Fields," painting by Dame Laura Knight
I'm grateful that I have had such loving mothers in my life. My mother-in-law fiercely encouraged my dream to be an artist and she modeled a low-stress, hands-off parenting approach. And my own mother continues to support me every day. She is truly the Queen of Unconditional Love. So, I feel very lucky.
"La Mère," a painting by Loïs Mailou Jones
Plus, my kids really love me. I mean, it's hard to believe how much they love me! It's so wonderful. I'm often humbled when I find little love notes like this one:
Thank you to the mothers and grandmothers in my life. My debt of gratitude has no end!
For further reading/ art-viewing:
Mother and Child, my Pinterest Board filled with my favorite paintings on this theme
Finding Balance, my attempts to reconcile art and motherhood from a blog post last year
Thoughts on Perfection and Motherhood, one of my first blog posts