A Daughter.....

Starting somewhere in the middle .....

(and Me)

I'd just brought my 5 year old daughter (Tilly) home from school and as we discussed what new things she'd discovered that day, I discovered something (to my horror) about me from a question she asked me that evening....

Whilst we were tidying her school things away, she asked me...

"What's a cuddle Mummy?"

My jaw dropped

I stood upright, turned and looked at her,

"Had I heard her right?"

Her cherubic face lifted up to me - waiting for an answer....

Meanwhile my mind raced, processing the wide ranging implications of her question, filled with a tumult of 'internal' voices questioning, stating, demanding and berating....


"Oh My God!"


"How could this be?"


"My Daughter didn't Know what a 'cuddle' was?!!"


"What kind of Mother am I?!"




"What would the school think!?"




A gamut of emotions I felt in succession, all at once and by expression - I was :-

Open - mouthed

Aghast

Horrified

Mortified

Stricken

Guilt-ridden

Dumb-struck

Wide-eyed

Incredulous

How could I answer any of these questions?


I pursed my lips as I pulled out a chair, heaved and slumped into it

Patiently Tilly waited
as I fought a losing battle - tears welled in my eyes

She watched me as I cast my mind back

I couldn't remember ever mentioning a cuddle, not once in her 5 years.

Then she spoke as she put her arms round my neck,


a familiar expression...

"A 'Daughter' me Mummy, A Daughter Me"

From the first time I'd embraced her,


                                                   I'd always said,

as I hugged her 'too tight'

                                "My Daughter!" 

'A Daughter - Me'  = Cuddle

My Daughter
(and Me)
in oils
20 x 16 inches

Happy Day's.....

My penultimate son is called David, but I usually call him Day (for short)...

and when he was two...

Happy (birth) Day's

in oils
16 x 20 inches

Comfort zone...

Nestling

In oils - 16 x 20 inches

Take my hand....

The Proposal

Bacchus & Ariadne

in oils - 16 x 20 inches

I See....

the naked Beauty.......

She

In oils, 20 x 16 inches

(a portrait of my daughter based on Ruben's 'Venus at a mirror', 


I believe I've achieved a classic portrait)

Zodiacal....

                                                           ....i.e. is in reference to established astrological associations. Firstly, my own. Being Libran, I was quite pleased (possibly even relieved) to read (many years ago) that, influences of cosmic sorts are responsible (in some part) for my chronic indecision. Or at least, that is to say, 'apparent ly' so.....

I've just stopped painting this picture.....

Potential titles, so far: -

Aut umn Leaves

(well, I'm undecided...)

The Chaste?

Autumnal Reflections

(too obvious?)

Gloria's Ought um's 

(too twee?)

Archer's Bow

(still twee?)

Hello'd Ground

(I know - tongue in cheek)

Art Miss?

(Maybe there's too much humour, or it's significantly flawed)

Gem and I

(as above)

Daft, me?

(see above)

Cue 'pid's arrow?

(ditto)

Strangely enough I was quite sort of nearly semi serious when I started the painting. Enthused from various depictions, descriptions and associations with Gemini (the twins), Apollo & Artemis (of course), Daphne and Apollo (Gad Zeus!), Amun-Ra & Isis (A man 'rarr' & I sees... or was that Whore us?), oh and William Shakespeare's evocative and extremely lengthy description of an encounter between Adonis and Venus.

Any way, I'm not convinced I've completed the depiction or thought of an appropriate title, as yet.


Back to  indecision......

Strikes....

                                      One.......

According to Neuro linguistics programmes, when observing someone's eye 'cue' the following can be deduced by the area the eyes 'clock'.

One - Visualisation (Memory Selection).

Auditory Memory (Recall)

Auditory Digital (Numerical Memory)

Kinestic (Movement Associated)

Auditory Construct (Imagined or developed)

Visualisation (Construct)

Whilst I'm no expert, from my own experience, I suppose 6 and 12 are related to emotion i.e: rapid target recognition/associations, or additional processing time for strategical/diplomatic assessment and/or delay, perhaps 'masking'?

Eyes to the skies usually indicates a negative emotional response or association

Eyes 'down cast' suggests additional 'processing' time required

Latter-day dragons....

Δράκων drákōn

Spitfires

In oils, 16 x 20 inches

Bloodlines....

Are incomplete....

like this photo of a family group portrait....

The Middlemass Males

Four Generations

in oils - 20 x 16 inches

Symbolic...

.

.

Cygnet Ring

(Swan Family)

In Oils - 16 x 20 inches