Mother and Child Paintings and Sculpture

"Mother and Child" ©Mary Montague Sikes

Early in my art career, I was intrigued by the painted images of "Mother and Child" throughout art history. The intense relationship of the mother with her children fascinated me. As a psychologist, I realized the importance of that initial contact of an infant with her mother. I recalled my early years and my own dependency on my mother as I grew.

The past couple of weeks, I have watched a baby robin hatched from a beautiful blue egg and grown into a fluffy feathered fledgling. All happened thanks to the constant care of its mother, and also its father. How amazing it was to see the male robin demonstrate with his own wings a fluttering flying motion. All the while, the female robin flew back and forth between the branches of a small cedar tree and the edge of a flower pot. This took place quite near an entrance door to our house. Robins are never there normally. The baby flew briefly, but it is now back in the nest still being fed by the adults. It looks a bit forlorn, as if fearful and lonely. Too bad it is an only child.

Babies of all kinds need attention. Mother and Child. That is a theme through life. I love the paintings I did featuring that subject. I cherish the abstract "Mother and Child" sculpture I did in cement and paint during the same time period.

Mother and Child. An universal theme that continues in art and in nature.