Archive for the ‘Babushka Dolls’ Category

A few years ago when I had an infant that slept in the morning and the afternoon I started to paint.

It wasn’t the first time but it had been a long time. It was because I was suddenly inspired by Babushka dolls.

Maybe it was the time of my life, but I sort of fell in love with them, their kind faces and round motherly shape. Their eyes seem to hold so many secrets.

I felt that their nesting attribute represented the mother within, in the sense that the mother that I was becoming was emerging from having been mothered.  The child that had been within brought with her the mother that was in me when she came out.

Also that the mother that I am, for good or bad, will be a part of the mothers that my girls may become. We hold these women inside us and nurture them for good or bad, the mother from the past and the mothers of the future.

It is a process that presents us with many thousands of decisions every day.

A friend of mine, Rebecca who doesn’t yet have children of her own, says that for her the nesting attribute represents the layers of the human soul, like Shrek says ‘Ogres are like onions Donkey, they have layers’.

Anyway I had this strong desire to represent them, so I began. I ended up painting quite a few pictures and giving them away, making necklaces, brooches and a couple of cushions. Eventually I appliqued them on to skirts. I thought I would show a few photos from time to time for those out there who like them too. Some of the photos are of actual dolls that I have been given by various kind people, women of course.