For much of my art career, I had nearly complete control of my time. Aside from school or work, I could choose when I wanted to paint or draw, and for how long. I had minimal obstacles to work around when it came to studio time.

After college, however, I took a very long break from painting. This was a combination of a lack of confidence, fear, and major life changes. Many, many good things happened in this time, but something was missing. I write more about this in another post.

When I finally returned to painting and drawing, I had quite a few things to work around. First, my time was no longer my own. I was no longer single, I was married. I shared (and still do) my life with a wonderful man, I wanted time with him when he wasn’t working! I was (and am) a mother. I had one boy first, then we added another little boy to our family. We even have another little boy on the way.

When were blessed with our boys, we chose for me to stay home with them and be the primary caregiver during the day. In our family, my husband is the working parent. As a stay-at-home-mom, the vast majority of my day is spent caring for my children and for our home. When much of my day is spent caring for my children I have to be far more disciplined in my studio time.

As I began practicing as an artist again, I began noticing little parts of my day that felt inspiring. So many of them were very every-day and simple, yet felt very poignant. Thus began my “Motherhood” series.

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Through my Motherhood Series, I seek to find the beauty in the mundane, or to fill the mundane with beauty! Parenting young children is very repetative and can often feel like survival instead of thriving. I can easily get bored with the repetativeness of daily tasks such as diapers, runny noses, and the never-ending piles of laundry and dishes. But that is not what I want for my motherhood.

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While motherhood can often feel mundane, it isn’t. There is beauty in the mundane moments and exhaustion. There is something deeply fulfiling and sacred, sometimes it is just difficult to see. I often find that when something is difficult to see or discern, adding paint helps.

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This series is an ever-evolving series, growing and changing as my motherhood journey does, yet each piece is consistent. Each piece reflects my journey as a mother, each piece is painted in acrylic on an 8×10 inch canvas board, and each piece focuses on something that is often mundane, stressful, adorable, or simply routine. I look forward to this series, seeing how it grows and changes, and I hope to offer up relatable moments for all parents as we journey through child-rearing.