Time Past
I am in denial about time. I cannot believe that it is 2025, that it is January, that the Fall 2024 semester has come and gone, that I am another year older, and that I, with my partner, have started a family. I blame Houston’s stubborn climate for this muddy gray incomprehension. Summer 2024 simmered into November, “fall” never arrived, and now it is a new year and winter is here.
Since last summer, I had a baby. That sounds peculiar, but that is how most people say it. More literally, I birthed a baby. It was surreal, dare-I-say magical, and so many other things. Today, she is approaching six months. After a long period of mushy, uncertain family circumstances (with pregnancy and motherhood at the tailend), I have returned to the studio with stacks of notes, many experiments, and an urge to work things out.
Easy Does It
Last spring, I made a note to return to my drawing practice. So, in preparation for the birth of my daughter, I made an artist book-sketchbook for drawings I would make postpartum. For the cover, I wrestled with the concept of our shared body. I used a red color palette to refer to the womb/body and white-pink to the baby. I cycled between using green or umber to refer to the exterior world.
Color studies and sketches for July 2024 Book
Notes and sketches for July 2024 Book
Sketch for July 2024 Book
Ultimately I settled on umber for the background. In addition to the painting on canvas, I incorporated fabric for the covers to create some softness and respond to some mistakes I had made along the way.
The drawings inside are still taking shape. It has been a curious experiment bouncing between the signatures (disrupting time by upsetting the sequence), creating trace images and words, and committing myself to a drawing in a sketchbook (rather than an object outside of it and thus attributing greater value to it).
July 2024 Book, 2024, 9 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches, coptic artist book with 7 signatures.
To view sketchbooks I’ve made in years past, visit “Homebound-Homemade Sketchbooks”.
While I made some work and met with a few artists over the fall, I gave myself time for maternity leave. I held my daughter, slept, and visited my grandmother. Occasionally, with the help of my partner and mother-in-law, I stepped into the studio.
I met with Nathaniel Donnett and Rick Lowe periodically throughout the semester. We talked about objects, messiness, and going past logic. I am excited to return to a few projects from years past as a result.
Stuffed painting object positioned on studio sofa. Continuation of stuffed painting series. See previous post.
To Share or Not to Share
I was timid to share the news of my pregnancy last spring for many reasons (beyond the medical). One, I wanted to be mindful of my family’s privacy (including the privacy of my unborn child). Two, I was wary of how social media might commandeer my relationship with my child. And three, I was uncertain of how becoming a mother might influence my identity as an artist and how people would view my work.
I find all three reasons curious. Anxiety surrounding modern technology pervades the logic of each one, and they assume online activity is certain and consequential to everyday life. Inevitably, digital life and the decisions I make relating to it will affect my relationship with my daughter.
Spread from July 2024 Book. Wax pencil.