Birth and Business

"Today's moments will become tomorrow's art."

The Buyer’s Market of American Craft 2012 is ten days away, but I will not be there because another event that is perhaps even more influential to my business took place on January 25th.  Our daughter, Eowyn Aurora, was born.  

The beauty of being an artist is that the simple moments in life fuel my work.  So I could say that my first business priority is to stuff my life as full of these moments as possible.  As we prepared for the birth of our second child (we “felt” it was a girl, but chose to be surprised by the gender), I created two new designs that were time-sensitive.  I painted an expectant Mama, with French words inspired by an aria I was singing during pregnancy, and “Embrace Lavishly,” an illustration of a family hug.  The significance of the family hug was that it included only one child—a boy of about two years, pushing his way between his hugging parents.  Not only does our son do this, but I knew that once the baby was born, I might never again paint a family of three.  As with a photograph, I wanted to capture the moment by painting it while my heart was full of feelings that come of having an only son.

So what will I be doing while the Buyer’s Market of 2012 goes on without me?  I will be continuing to collect moments.  The sweet sound of my toddler’s voice filling in the words of “Try to Remember” while we sing together in the evenings, shared family laughter, our son’s urgent request to hold our hands, the tender kisses he gives his baby sister, reading together, playing on the floor with our children, basking in the presence of our newborn, letting the realization sink in that we now have a daughter…

Today’s moments will become tomorrow’s art.

Photos by Megan Elisabeth Photography