I just finished! I think it's sweet as heck, and I hope the family will like it. No, I hope the family will love it.
My youngest nephew just turned 19 so we're going to my sister's house and celebrating tonight. I had my daughter with a home birth, and my sister birthed her three children at home. I was privileged to get to "catch" Jake, as I caught his older brother, Lyle. Lyle has just headed off to California for his first tour as the drummer for a heavy metal rock band. They're going to over 50 cities in the span of two months! Jake is working through the summer and starting college in the fall. Time flies, my friends.
My daughter is 26 and she has the intellectual age of 9 or 10 due to a reaction at age one to her immunization. So I haven't had to go through the "letting go" that most moms go through. Mo is happily and intently focused on Hannah Montana and her cohorts. She calls me when she reaches her friend's house two blocks away to let me know she got there safely. She can't wait to see Kung Fu Panda when it comes out. She holds my hand or arm when we're out shopping. We're getting to enjoy a very prolonged pre-adolescence. Not such a bad thing, yes?
Well, I'm not sure all that belongs in my "Art Journal" but I'm an artist the whole time I'm being a mom, and a mom the whole time I'm an artist. One informs the other, one impacts the other. Don't you think?
Have a wonderful Saturday evening!
Finish of Libbi and Suzy Q
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14 comments:
Well Susan, you might guess that I would agree. I find it very hard to separate the two.And it would be pretty silly of me to sit here blogging away & act like I don't have a house full of kids running around. :)Besides, I very much enjoyed hearing about Mo. enjoy your weekend, Amy
& thanks for popping over to my bloggy, your comments mean alot to me. Amy
Hi Susan, This portrait came out wonderful, I know they will love it. Wow, I don't even know what to say about your daughter other than she's so lucky to have a mom like you and I'm so sure you feel blessed to have her. All of my life I have always thought God gave children with special needs to just the right people and here's proof of that.
Amy- I always love seeing what you're painting... especially since many of your paintings celebrate motherhood and the relationship between mothers and children.
Thank you, Barbara. I'm not sure Morgan would always think she's lucky, but I know I'm lucky to have her.
As you once said to me, it wouldn't be as enjoyable if I didn't get to see the "real" side of you - your life. Libbi and Suzy Q will be well received, you can bet. Beautiful job! Those teen times, keep you young, body AND soul. Believe me, when they DO leave - it leaves a hole in your heart. So, here's hoping she will be there a lot longer for you!
Susan, you caught a special life and spirit in this portrait. I've no doubt they will love it.
Thanks for sharing Morgan with us. Special needs kids can be full of love and life and are so often a blessing. I have a cousin, Scott, who's in his late forties now, but mentally is only 4 or 5. He's remains a sweetheart the entire family cherishes. Too often, though, these are born to families incapable of appreciating their uniqueness. I agree with Barbara that Mo is fortunate to have you her mom.
I think art and family are all intertwined. Morgan is wonderful, I'm pleased to know her. :) This painting is great and will be loved for sure.
Hope you had a great day today, too.
Another winner. Love the pinks and grays in the dog. Who says the white dog has to be white? Thanks for a glimpse into your personal life. You are SPECIAL.
Thank you Pattie, Jo, Dianne and Marilyn. I'm a little squirmy under praise of the quality of my mothering. I think I'm the one who lucked out, actually. Ok... New topic! I'm finally repainting a section of a large painting that's been offending my eye since last October. Maybe you'll help me look at it with fresh (and additional) eyes? I'll post later today if all goes well.
Hi Susan. Thanks for sharing that little slice of your life. Mo sounds like she has a great Mom!
I always get a little nervous when we give Erin her vaccinations. bad things can happen if you give them and bad can happen if you don't.
I agree with the above comments, and yours, of not separating who you are and what you do. It is part of it and I feel like I know my blogging friends better when I learn a little about their personal lives as well.
Hi Frank- I believe they've corrected the problem with the immunizations that hurt so many children. But believe me, I held my breath with every future one we had to do with Mo. I held off for about 5 years before relenting to the pressure to continue. But I don't look at her as "damaged" but as this is who she is. And she's a good egg.
Hey Susan -- My daughter's pediatrician testified before congress about thimerisol (sp?) in immunizations. That was years ago. Her son, born 21 years ago, like my daughter, had a reaction to his shots.
"But I don't look at her as "damaged" but as this is who she is. And she's a good egg."
Children all teach us so much about love, don't they? Show us depths of it we never knew existed. I'm taking my daughter to have all four impacted wisdom teeth removed today. There will be much coddling.
"I'm an artist the whole time I'm being a mom, and a mom the whole time I'm an artist. One informs the other, one impacts the other."
I get a lot of work done in my car these days, waiting for kids at the skating rink or kids at a gaming tournament. If I weren't portable (thank you, colored pencils), I would never finish anything!
I like the way you make the glasses part of her face in this. They're don't distract from who she is, they're just part of who she is.
I'm not sure I wrote that very clearly: My daughter is 21, as is her former pediatrician's son. My daughter did not have a reaction to immunizations.
Thank you, Laura. I appreciate the clarification, too. I don't actually paint in the car like you do, but I've got my notebook with me everywhere to jot down all the "art thoughts" that pop up as I go along. The thoughts we think create our reality, so if we think about our art, we're creating- whether a brush (or colored pencil or pastel) is in our hand or not.
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