lay with me

12” x 16”

Acrylic paint and oil pastel on canvas.

As a child, one of my favourite things to do during the warmer months was to lie on my back and watch the clouds. My imagination would run wild and suddenly the sky came to life. Now, as a mother of two little boys, I get so much pleasure out of looking up at the sky and asking them what they see.

Lay With Me was inspired by one of those summer days where the sky is bright blue and the clouds are so massive and quick to change, all you can do is slow down and enjoy the show. When I pointed up to the sky and asked my boys what they saw in the clouds, my youngest (a spunky three and a half year old who rarely sits still) excitedly grabbed my hand, pulled me down to the earth and exclaimed “Lay with me mama! What do you see?” We spent at least ten minutes just lying there, forgetting about what task I was attempting to complete or what game we were playing. Those ten minutes felt like they lasted an hour. It was time, slowed down, that I rarely get with my youngest. I don’t even remember what he saw in the sky; just the sound of his breath and the warmth of his little body next to mine in the grass.