I have been painting, and for the first time since I was a teenager I am making art without any intention of showing or selling it. I am trying to make art that is a part of my life, not outside of it. And I am going to finish things and have objects that tell a story and mean something and are exactly what I had intended them to be. It is quite different to be making without the pressure to be impressive, or clever, or even 'good'. I hope I am coming into a time of my life where I can be an artist, and a mother, a gardener, a woman, a wife, without feeling shameful, or like an imposter. I think these are hard times for everyone, and it is a hard time to be a woman when that, often these days, feels like a dirty word. I am 31 and my womanliness has always felt like something less than I should be, something that should be concealed or overcome. What will I do with that?
