Studio Deep Dive: Bloobies

If you follow me on Instagram, you likely have seen these watercolor and ink blob paintings I've been making. I've called them Bloobies jokingly but I kind of like the term so it might stick. I'm not sure what these will manifest in but they've become a really lovely experiment in materials, playful making, and a nice respite from having to make representational work. 

I've said this a few times in different posts, but I'll say it again: Making since becoming a mother looks way different these days. And yet, I have had a better sketchbook and play practice than I have had in a long while! I am able to make in short bursts between naps, while my husband gets Mr. Baby ready for bed, and sometimes while Mr. Baby is quietly playing on his own. Because the time is fleeting, I find myself drawn to a practice that needs to start and stop at any given moment and with that comes a playfulness and a willingness to make ugly sometimes weird stuff.

The blobs came about when I wanted to let loose with my watercolors. I started making repetitive circles using two or three random colors before I started introducing inks in the mix. Initially the circles were just meant to be a practice in repetition until I noticed how sometimes the colors pool in concentric circles. I am currently breastfeeding and still grappling with simultaneous amazement and disembodied feelings about my own body postpartum. The repetition of breastfeeding has been heavy on my mind as I think about when I might wean Mr. Baby and how to even start that process. I've been lucky that breastfeeding has been really easy for both of us AND I am struggling a bit with how to return to more normal work schedules and being the only source of nutrition when he decides to go on solids strike occasionally.

I am so so deeply proud of me and my body and have been wanting to express this in some way. I also have watched my breasts change in unrecognizable ways over the past three years with pregnancy, miscarriage, pregnancy again, and postpartum. These blobs lend themselves nicely to being any shape and reflect in a really lovely way a kind of diary. I also really love that they can be universal. Everyone has or had a breast. Everyone has or had a nipple. They shift and change just like every body does sometimes hourly, sometimes yearly and I want to keep playing with that idea. 

I usually have a clear plan with my work: I know when it's a series or collection or how I might display it. Right now, i have no ideas yet on where these will go. I'm excited about them though and just keep obsessively making them. The combinations feel endless and the process feels healing and meditative. I know I might make prints soon! And I think I want to see what happens if I try them as Riso prints! I find making prints overwhelming and rarely sell my work because of this but I really do want to share these with folks that have resonated with them. 

More soon maybe!