30” Acrylic on framed canvas. Varnished and ready to hang.

This painting portrays a mother bear, carrying the weight of a small cub who clings to her back, secure in its grip. The mother’s body is covered by a dense, weighted blanket of moss, flowers, and wild fauna, which represents the weights—sometimes hidden, sometimes acknowledged—that mothers bear. For me, the moment I discovered I was pregnant, I felt an instant shift. I became a mother right then. It was a quiet, transformative feeling that made me see motherhood in a new light. I began to understand, on a much deeper level, the gravity of what being a mother is.

But this weight is far from one-dimensional. It’s not just about hardship; it is the collective essence of life’s many emotional layers. The weight reflects the joy and excitement of new life, the overwhelming beauty of watching something small and fragile bloom into existence. It carries the rawness of the process itself—of growth, of uncomfortable change, of becoming. It represents the grief that comes from shedding an old version of oneself, a past life that can never be reclaimed. And, within it, there is also the deep joy of new beginnings, the incomparable connection between mother and child. Yet, woven in among the beauty is the sorrowful truth that many women experience deep, profound loss—whether through miscarriage, unfulfilled dreams, or the loss of what could have been. That sadness is too often a part of the story.

This painting came to life during a period of personal grief, when I was in desperate need of an outlet to process my emotions. The burden I painted was not only the physical weight that the bear carries, but the emotional and mental toll I was experiencing as I tried to navigate the complex territory of loss and healing. In this way, the painting became my own form of therapy, a release of tangled feelings that were too heavy to carry in silence.

Now, as I step into another journey of becoming a mother, I continue to carry these weights—each layer an integral part of who I am and who I’m becoming. I know this season is only one chapter in a much longer story, and that with every new chapter, more weights of both good and bad will be added. But there is strength in this burden, and a deep understanding that each weight contributes to the depth of the experience. It’s a reminder that the journey is not about lightness; it’s about embracing the weight with grace, knowing that it’s part of something greater than we can fully comprehend.

This is the third painting of my “Seasons of Life” series that I have completed in the past year. As I move through this season, I’ll continue to build on this collection of work until I feel the story is complete. I’m so excited for the journey!