Image of the Week: Spring Nursling
© Durga Yael Bernhard
Happy Mother's Day! I honor all the mothers and grandmothers out there – and the potential mothers, too, whose maternal selves are still budding within. It's no accident that Mother's Day coincides with the abundant new life of spring. The invention of the modern holiday in 1908 was not rooted in anything seasonal. But as a cultural tradition, this special day set aside for mothers harkens back to festivals too numerous to name, both Christian and pagan, held all over the Greek and Roman Empire for centuries. For good reason, too!
For me this is also garden-planting season – my favorite time of year (except for the ticks). The year I painted Spring Nursling, I was up to my elbows in dirt with my nine-month-old daughter crawling around in the grass. The image took form as I took a break to nurse her, trying in vain not to get her dirty. As we sat in the sun, katydids trilled in the grass, and the dark soil I had just turned with my digging fork was fragrant with moist earth, entwined with roots as fine as hair, and crawling with busy insects. A myriad of baby plants sprouted bright tufts of green. We were in heaven, my daughter and I.
Oh, to preserve a moment in a painting. Yesterday I bought that little girl her first used car.
Good thing I have the best dog in the world to keep me company in the garden.
Spring Nursling is available from my webstore as a poster. (Fill in the title where it says "Name of Image".)
A good week to all – and happy mothering!
D Yael Bernhard