Monday Mood #5

This Monday is like many others; I'm joyfully consumed in my motherhood. I love planning, preparing, and providing for my family. Isn't it weird that my first instinct is to apologize for that? But there it is. 

I remember when I left my office job, another woman told me she couldn't understand why I'd want to be at home. She also suggested I'd be back because I'd surely get bored. That's funny. Ten years later and I'm still not bored. My to-do list is still longer than my done one, and I never seem to have the time or brainpower to tackle all the projects I have going on in my head. 

Last year, I DID go back to the office as staff support, working a whopping five hours a week, but I'll be leaving there at the end of the year. I was meant to help with social media creation and planning and data entry, and other menial things that take time away from the other staff. It's been okay, but sitting at an office only reminds me of things I could be doing at home. 

It's funny when you try to Google famous artists who are mothers, you're more likely to get lists of famous paintings OF artists' mothers. Here are a few more relevant articles I found on the topic. 

If you read nothing else, check out this piece by writer Kim Brooks, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Mom: Is Domestic Life the Enemy of Creative Work. It is so relatable. Here's a great quote from it, "She answered calmly, hardly raising her voice. “Because the point of art is to unsettle, to question, to disturb what is comfortable and safe. And that shouldn’t be anyone’s goal as a parent.”  

10 Artists Who Were Also Mothers: This article by Sartle starts with Artemisia Gentileschi and ends with Kara Walker. 

Invaluable's In Good Taste article, A Celebration of Mothers in Art and Literature, includes more contemporary writers and photographers influenced by their role as mothers.