Inspiration Behind Clare's Motherhood Collection
Clare Haxby derives the subject matter of her mixed media paintings directly from her many and varied life experiences. In her earlier years, Clare transitioned from a self-described “party-girl,” working as a make-up artist for Pop music videos in London, to wife and mother of two.
Years later, as an expatriate in Singapore, Clare’s motherhood series began to take shape in her thoughts shortly after she gave birth to her third child. It was during those busy and intuitive days that she began to visualize the paintings that she wanted to create on canvas.
When a fellow British expatriate in Australia contacted Clare about contributing her work to his forthcoming anthology of poetry and art, titled Love Is, Clare discovered her motivating opportunity to realize those works, that, she said, “had been in my heart and mind for a while.”
Clare describes her collaboration with Keith Wright for Love Is—“Keith was passionate about his project – he was in the process of selecting artists, writers, and poets to create works on the theme of love; all types of love that would be made into a book. When we chatted later in Sydney, I told him that immediately I know what I was going to paint as the images were already in my head. The images of maternal love, pregnancy and motherhood.”
The resulting three paintings Motherhood, Yoga Mama, and Emerging Motherhood, are all mixed media (fine art acrylic paints, mono-printing, and Chinese paper collage). Of these paintings, Clare says, “ I created these 3 paintings using various techniques that I liked to use, to give me a variety of mark-making and depth to my paintings. I used acrylic paint, collage, and worked a lot with mono-printing and hand-cut stencils. I am lucky to have a beautiful natural light studio. The paintings were created quickly despite my trademark layering techniques, as I had such a clear vision in my head. I wish all my paintings were produced so easily!”
Clare’s Motherhood series was recently featured in Executive Lifestyle magazine. For the article, Clare described the series further—“I wanted to create the mood around the emotional and physical changes of a woman’s body during pregnancy as she develops the bond to her baby growing inside her, the intense feelings of protection, nurturing and love. I felt very comfortable with my body during pregnancy and the role it was playing took precedence over any concerns about how I looked or how my body was changing. It kind of freed me from those normal worries about physical looks. I was happy to be pregnant again. I was over 40 and didn’t know I would be able to get pregnant again, but I did, and it was a surprise and a celebration.”
View Clare’s Motherhood Collection.
Clare’s Motherhood paintings are available as Limited Edition prints—each signed and numbered in the edition. They make lasting mementos for a new mother of any age! For more information or to purchase a limited edition print, please email marketing@clarehaxby.com
The Love Is project was published as a little red hardcover book ($19.95) that is now sold to raise money for children’s charities and is available online for baby shower gifts and Mother’s Day gifts - www.bookloveis.com
Sample pages of the Love Is book with the writing of Sarah and Cindy, pared with Clare’s art—
Marie Kazalia is an Arts journalist, Fiction author, contributing writer to Xpost Multimedia Magazine, artist agent, Agent and Contributing Writer for ArtScene Guru in Hong Kong. She is represented by Schroder-Romero Gallery in New York City.
Find out about Marie at http://artistmarketingresources.com -and- http://MarieKazalia.me
