Becoming by Yvonne Dutch Artist

“Becoming” is about parenthood and all the changes that come with that. For me this work really shows how you have a vision about, but absolutely no true clue about what is going to change, within you, your body and mind, and around you, when you bring a new human being into the world.

I have tried to depict a birth with this drawing, not only of the baby, but also of the parent. Because a child is born, but also the parent. The parent (mother/father/person with a uterus) changes and enters a state of metamorphosis. What they knew to be, and who they were, they take with her, as they step into a new identity of taking care of their newborn. They do this from the first heartbeat as the baby lives under their heart for about 40 weeks, until her child is all grown up.

Parents give altruistically and learn along the way as they grow into the role of a parent. There is no manual for how to take on this new role, only intuition and love, patience, support, curiosity, a want to develop. For this other being needs you to survive and for you to show how to be in this world. You are the child’s guide and mentor. You are its safe haven, it’s beacon in the dark. You are each other’s history, present and future, all wrapped into one.

The circular movement in this painting, together with the rolling waves in blue and red, embody the energy that comes to life while a new person grows. With that, the parent finds the self in that new phase in their own life. Life energy whirls, feeds, takes, nurtures, flows, in an everlasting universe, where we take on our bodily shape. Our thoughts and hearts are all one, as we seek prosperity, safety, development, love, unity with the Divine.

Becoming a parent can be daunting at first sight, but it is the most challenging and wondrous journey ever possible.

I hope you can find your inner mother or inner parent reflected in this work. XO, Yvonne