Eve: Be Fruitful and Multiply
22×30″ Watercolour on Paper
This was my first painting in the series, Women of Substance. At the time, it was not a series, only a blank page. As an artist, painting come from the things that we are concerned about, whether we understand it at the time or not. I had been grappling with where I fit in the world. I kept thinking about Eve in the garden of Eden and about the creation story. It is a shared story that the Western World and the Middle East have laden with guilt and blame. When investigating the story, I discovered many interesting things, the first of which was that Eve was called the same name as Adam until the fall. Both Adam and Eve were made in God’s image.
What does it mean to be made in God’s image? As I thought about it, I thought of the word that the First Nations people use for God – the Creator. If we are all made in the Creator’s image we are all made creative. The form of that creativity appears wide in scope, encompassing both creation and procreation.
When creating my paintings, I am in dialogue with the Creator. It is when I enter the area of risk and the unknown that things get really interesting. The intuitive nature of the process is the listening part of the conversations. When artists allow themselves to go into unfamiliar territory, the work becomes a co-creation.
A similar mystery lies at the heart of procreation. We all understand that it takes two people, a male and a female, or rather a sperm and an egg, to create a child. We have recorded the actual moment of creation and slowed it down to see it for ourselves. We have identified the DNA; we can even create test-tube babies – without, I believe, taking away from the mystery of Eve’s “fruitfulness”.
Another aspect of Eve came to me in the process of this painting Eve, as the very first mother, did one of the hardest jobs in the world without the assistance and guidance of any other woman. For all of us, being a parent for the first time, can be quite and initiation. Imagine Eve- it is the middle of the night and the baby is crying…she has no idea why, but the baby will not stop and its cheeks are red and on fire. There are no grandmothers, doctors or friends to phone.
When I am faced with difficult situations as a parent, it helps me to remember that I do have people around me who I can call on to give me advice and support by coming up with a creative solution.
