Childbirth (artwork)

This drawing was actually done on the night of November 2nd. I had been in 'pre-labor' since Halloween night, with the contractions coming and going. This was done between the last spell of pre-labor and (what was to be) the real labor that started in just after midnight (morning of November 3rd). So, just to make it clear, this drawing was made before Esme was born, while she was still inside me.


Original drawing 'Childbirth' by Marie Lamb

Since I know these drawings are VERY hard to tell anything apart in - I've included an 'emphasized' version with some digital color added. Although, it might not help much. The area I made in lightest blue surprised me (happily, to tears) that night, too - as it looks like a baby head-down in the womb of the woman (darker blue).


digitally enhanced to show some of the figures
The bird to the right was a 'hummingbird' like creature and the bird to the left is like a mask or costume, giving some aspects of the bird to the lady inside. There is also a fish to the left of the 'baby' figure, which is symbolic to me because I often described Esme's movements in me like a fish flopping, and in some cultures I studied in my anthropology courses fish (and rabbits, btw) are symbols of fertility and children.

Again, these are my drawings that begin with an uncontrolled set of random lines, drawn to a rhythym (my grandmother's song, now Esme's lullaby) on the paper and then slowly filled in over the course of a few hours until every line is used.