Original Oil Painting

Materials: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: Painting 42 x 60 x 1.5”

About: Erica and I met at a playground. Our 2-year-old sons, the same size and age, introduced themselves to one another by hugging. Erica and I met over and over again after that, on accident because we live nearby, and also on purpose because we like each other so much. Erica shares so much of herself. She made me feel seen immediately. Like me, she has small children. Like me, she is pursuing a vibrant life and developing her personhood. I’m stubborn about finding my sense of self as an individual, but there are diapers to change, meals to make, and big questions from small mouths to answer. Now a mother, whether I turn away from it or lean into it, motherhood is shaping my identity. Erica is a mother, a woman, and just so distinctly herself.

A painting of my peer and friend is better than any words I can find to share the push and pull I feel as an individual and a mother. This piece is painted from photographs taken of Erica and her three children: Amara, Ijemma, and Cairo in my studio.

This piece was featured in “It’s Personal” at Groton School in 2024.

This piece is available for purchase.

Monthly payment options available. Local delivery (within 100 miles of Boston) is free for large original works. All work ships out of the studio in Wakefield, MA. Domestic and international shipping quotes available.