Tuesday, February 22, 2005

A Mother's Sorrow - Pencil drawing for Illustration Friday

Click on image for full view
Wow... what a switch from all those light images of "flight"... but I have been flooded with lots of images for this topic as well. (Time to cut down on those triple-shot lattés...)

The first and most acute image of sorrow for me is the loss of a child... a parent having to release their offspring, regardless of age, to death is agonizing. The tragedies in the Middle East - carbombings and wars, the tsunami in SE Asia - so many innocents drowned and battered, swept away from their families, the horrors of Africa's civil wars and genocide in Sudan and Rwanda, the predators in our own society who would snatch our children from their innocence and harm them in so many awful ways, diseases that we haven't found the cure for cutting short promise and joy... these all conjured up images of parents finding their children murdered or killed by the catastrophes that they are powerless to control. I have 3 children and the thought of losing any of them prematurely or violently makes me cry at the thought...

13 comments:

Courtney Pippin-Mathur said...

very intense and devastating. maybe it's because I have a little one, but this image really struck deep.

Stacy A. Gray said...

very powerful.

Anonymous said...

Very well done. It tears at my heart and that is what an artist wants. Way to go.

Anonymous said...

Makes me feel delicate - so I refuse to think about the subject, BUT I really like the composition and how you've cropped the subject ... but still too sad!

S. Fizer said...

such a powerful image. i adore your work and look forward to seeing more!

Anonymous said...

really great work...i think if the rest of IF's images are like yours, i'd better put a box of Kleenex by my comp!

Anonymous said...

Powerful Image. Helps us all to savour the gifts that we have and cherish them.~www.rozzieland.blogs.com

Anonymous said...

This image makes me feel upset. Which is good, because that's exactly what it's supposed to do. Beautiful work!

~Bertha
http://www.livejournal.com/users/bertha79/

Unknown said...

I agree .. very powerful!I did what kate did!...

Anonymous said...

This causes a strong reaction, which is why it is so good. Really intense and really well done.

Anonymous said...

Poignant and powerful. I like the composition, too, the flow of the mother's hair framing the left side, as if it's flowing down to embrace or protect the child.
Annie B

Anonymous said...

the idea of this picture is trully the only one true pain

if this ever happened to my child

it would end me

forver

its very moving

Anonymous said...

i love it. it shows a characteristic of life that no one can escape and i think that it takes an amazing artist to show it in his/her artwork. it moves me hard and i'm glad to have seen it. it's a great piece.