SKETCHES IN PASTEL

In these sketches, I used hard pastel in a hue similar to the rich, smoky blue of indigo pigment—a nod to my son’s name. They are the first drawings I made post-pregnancy, and, I hope, universal to all mothers regardless of our different pregnancy, birthing, and childbearing experiences.

After the shock and awe of my son’s birth, I began making quick sketches done from imagination amidst the flurry of diaper changes, bottles, and laundry while caring for him full-time. These sketches—with stretched stomachs, engorged breasts, Cesarian section scars, round cheeks, pudgy ankles and tiny hands—function as a visual diary as I begin life postpartum, which is often referred to as the fourth trimester. Unlike my usual works, which are fastidious and time-consuming, these drawings are fast and frantic out of necessity. In them, a healing body cradles a new life, finds rapture in their quiet moments together, finds purpose in protection. I hope that these sketches capture the rawness and imperfection of motherhood as much as they capture its aching tenderness.