You are currently browsing the daily archive for July 9th, 2007.
I’ve recently become attracted to watercolor painting and sketching because it’s something that I can do, (and finish!), during my kids’ naptimes, rather than an acrylic painting that drags on and on with little snippits of time here and there.
But this is my first ever watercolor portrait. Self portrait none the less.
I chose a photo myself when I was 11 years old because this is a time in my life that I have been realizing I have a lot of issues to sort out. I’m doing some self-therapy by journalling using a book called “The Inner Child Workbook” by Cathryn Taylor. So I decided to do some art therapy too. As I was painting I heard a lot of negative comments rushing into my head, criticizing myself. I tried to re-focus on finding the beauty in myself at this awkward phase of life and give the inner critic a rest.
It’s a time in my life where I had really low self-esteem and looked torward peers to fill up the empty gap in my soul. I still carry this desire for acceptance from others and am learning to slowly let it go. Interestingly, I recently got re-connected with my old peer group, my classmates from elementary school, on Facebook after being out of touch for 20 years.
Recently I came across the blog of friend of mine, mammacomic and she had just posted a whole bunch of great photos of herself using all different types of baby carriers, mostly a variety of baby slings. And then she did some fantastic paintings and sketches of mothers carrying, breastfeeding and protecting their babies in slings.
So with that on mind, when I opened up Isabela’s room the other day at the end of her “quiet time”, she says to me, “Mama, look, a baby backpack.” So of course I run and grab my camera but also marvelled at how children learn and process by copying what adults do. Like when Diego was born Isa played “breastfeeding” her dolls a lot.
When Isabela was young, she practically lived in the baby sling or baby front carrier. With Diego, he got big and heavy quickly, so once he was able to go in the baby backpack, that’s where he spent a lot of time. It gave them so much security, reassurance and peacefulness to be close with me like that, but I did notice that once they were able to start walking on their own, my trips to the chiropractor to straighten out my back dramactically decreased!
Here is Isa with her stuffed bunny in her “baby backpack”, a basket slung over back.
