Above are a few photos from a painting I am working on. I did the undercoat many months ago and then put it away and forgot about it. I am happy I did this as I feel I have come a long way as a painter- and as a Mother.

The textures and colours overwhelmed me a little while back, whereas now I am excited about them and enjoying watching it transform. This painting is 80 x 60cm in size- it’s not the biggest painting I have worked on, but not the smallest. I plan to actually paint this a few meters by a few meters- that would be amazing.

My idea behind this painting took a while to form in my head but it is clearer to me now. Birth is arbitrary. Birth is a death. Birth is painful and life changing experience and I feel it is very much taken for granted by our society. We scoff at
teenage mothers or women who aspire to be JUST mothers. We scoff at housewives, domestic ‘woman’s work’- it’s so taken advantage of that most of what mum’s do and go through- is wordless.
I wanted to pay homage to this ‘everyday miracle’- to the agony that is birth. I wanted to congratulate my friends- Natasha and Jarron, with more than just a store bought card. I wanted to congratulate them for making this baby girl and for loving and caring for her.
Raising and shaping a human being is one of the most important jobs in the world- regardless of what our current societal structure tells us.
One day there will be words.

L
x

Means that before lunch time my finger and hands have cramped.

So far 35 drawings are now mounted with only 40 more to go.

We’re getting there!

L

Warm weather, please hurry the f**k up.

Lily
x

This painting was a tricky one- I don’t usually paint backgrounds.

Also because this is from a tiny, blurry photo a friend took back in 2009, so the detail wasn’t to clear. I didn’t take any photos at the beginning because I didn’t think it would work out – but it did.

This photo is of the second and
third layers. I was really struggling with the angles of our faces and trying to get Gene’s laugh right.

This is the fourth layers- mostly working on the back ground- the blurs, lights and shapes. I’ve started work on the clock again because the face wasn’t white enough. I’m mostly working on all of these to avoid painting the polka dots on my dress.

But one Sunday afternoon I sat down, put on some music and just painted the damn polka dots! Took me two hours.

This is the final result- it’s undefined and unrefined in a lot of places, but I think that fits with the overall mood of the painting.

A self portrait.

Which was yesterday..

I just had to share this song- not only this song but this particular performance of this song.

When I hear this it feels like the words, the melody are reverberating in my throat and coming out of my mouth. It’s so fucking fantastic.

This morning we have spent counting out and measuring all the little sketches & drawings I have done for Berlin Domestic. There’s 56 that have made the final cut and my lord the maths are doing my head in.. Thank goodness Gene is helping me!

It’s hailing/raining/snowing outside so it’s good to have an indoor project, I guess.

Anyway last night I got my bike out of the basement and rode to my friend Christian’s studio so we could have a drink and draw session. I also met Dominik Heilig, who does Kazka the comic- LINK which is really cool. We talked about doing a bigger drawing session, when the weather is better 🙂

Strolling in the rain today I took a photo of the book stack which topped off nicely with a type writer (like a cherry on top only cooler?), I always walk past this and have never taken a photo of it. The things I take for granted!

Anyway, back to the measuring and cutting
and eating of chocolate.