Mom

Mom, 11" x 14", acrylic

Blog 32

Today is my mother’s 85th birthday which I cannot spend with her. Therefore, I want to dedicate this blog to my mom, the strong person who was one of the first people who worked in a home office to combine career and motherhood. She worked more than full-time as a right hand to my father in building up his architecture firm. Nevertheless, she always had a warm meal on the table when my sister and I came from school and looked after the household all by herself.

My sister and I often complained about how much she worked, but as typical kids, we didn’t offer to help either. My mother is a perfectionist, and my sister and I would not perform the tasks to her standard, or so we told ourselves. As a mother of two now adult children, I can't imagine how she managed to keep going without taking any time for herself.

When I saw a picture of my mom as a young child in a photograph from the 1940s, I was intrigued to create her portrait even though I am usually not interested in painting portraits. I hardly even capture people in my paintings or the photographs I take.

I always feel that we see ourselves in a very different way from other people. We often are our harshest critics. We complain about our bodies but would never say the same about another person because we often look for our faults while others look for our best attributes.

In the sepia and soft white photo, my mother wore a beautiful dress and an oversized white bow in her bob-style hair to dress her up for a professional photo shoot. While I usually love colours, restricting my palette was as much a challenge as capturing the likeness of my mom.

I am still happy with the result after all these years. However, although I have sketched my mother various times, I have not painted her another time - probably, because it was easier to capture her in her past than in her present.

left: drawing from photo, right: live sketch during a trip

Today, I am thankful my mother is still part of my present. Many of my friends are already motherless. I cherish our time together even though we are physically apart, which is much easier in the area of virtual platforms.

I wish my mom the happiest of birthdays and many years ahead. Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag, Mutti!