Image of the Week: Mother & Child – a selection for Mother's Day
See boldface below for Mother's Day sale on greeting cards
© Durga Yael Bernhard
Here's a selection of images from my collection of mother-and-child fine art paintings, illustrations, and linoleum block prints. Above is Maternal Roots, a commissioned piece in which charity in all forms – whether feeding the hungry, tending the sick or elderly, or caring for widows or orphans – is depicted as a loving mother hen. Maternal Roots is available from my webstore as either a 8.5"x11" poster ($10 including shipping) or a 5"x7" greeting card ($3.50 including shipping). Scroll down and choose posters or cards, then look for "Name of Image" with a blank next to it, and type the name of the painting there.
Mother's Light, below, depicts a child as a light in his mother's life – and as the bearer of a shared, intergenerational light – the soul of a family that is passed down from generation to generation. The mother is the root from which the child grows. Mother's Light is available as a poster (without words) here (type in Mother's Light where it says "Name of Image") or as a greeting card (with "Happy Mother's Day" as shown below) here.
The same concept is expressed in a different way in my much older painting The Mother Garden, below. The young sapling thrives within – but is destined to grow beyond – its mother's protective embrace. I have an overstock of glossy cards of this image, so if you buy two, you'll get a third for free – from now until Mother's Day.
Finally, below is Mother & Child, a linoleum block print that I did soon after my first child was born. Here the baby is so deeply enfolded in its mother's embrace, it's almost like a marsupial. This intense closeness of mother and nursing infant is meant to convey the primeval nature of motherhood not only for women, but for all mammals. Mother & Child is also on sale: buy two cards and get a third for free.
There are many ways to depict the mother and child archetype, and these are not my only paintings on this timeless subject. For more examples please visit the "Mothering, Fathering, and Family" section of my website gallery of art. Most of these images may be ordered as posters or cards, too.
A good week to all!
D Yael Bernhard