Shortly after my first child, Anna ,was born I began to make drawings of her head and face as she slept under her blankets. My feelings of tenderness and concern for her survival brought me close enough to her to hear her breathing. In Halifax, a routine of diaper rinsing, and washing in an old tub and wringer washer began.
As Anna developed, I continued to draw her, sleeping, sitting up, and taking her first steps. My responsibility for her welfare occupied twenty four hours of most days. The only opportunity to draw anything beyond my household was an evening life drawing class at the Nova Scotia College of Art.
In the next few years I made a series of drawings about the care and nurture and training that I provided for Anna. My life drawing experience enabled me to produce the drawings of Anna and myself without models or photographs. I arranged our figures to face in opposite directions to indicate that she was rapidly learning new skills while I had to set aside my other interests.
I was hoping to extend my own training in printmaking, but this was not an option in Halifax at this time. I waited another seven years before it became possible for me to study printmaking again.
While I made these sketches of Anna I was not thinking about how other women artists have drawn their children. The works of Mary Cassat and Berthe Morissot present idealized children in attractive settings. I only wanted to record the development of my children and our closeness in the process. I was not planning to exhibit these sketches and they now belong to my larger experience of child raising and drawing when possible.
