In the year 2000, a year after my very pleasant home birth, I woke up one morning grateful that I had had options to fulfill my expectations and make informed decisions. I also knew that someone under a good midwife's supervision, would have had several "safe" backup plans which would lead to the calm feeling of the artwork - even though the subject is in labor with her significant oth
er on a sailboat with no wind to blow it. I just had to paint the image from my dream - at 4:30 in the morning!
The obviously pregnant woman in th
e artwork reprents that Birth is imminent and expected. All women have fears that expectations will not be met. Regardless of whether the "Expectations" become reality or not is not the point. I wanted to depict a calm and natural feeling for birth and its expectations, since the birth of a child is a natural process that has been occurring for thousands of years in a variety of situations.
The non-pregnant woman hidden in the artwork represents the "Expectations" of getting pregnant, as it took an entire year to get pregnant with our first child once we started trying and 6 months with our second child. The non-pregnant woman also represents the hopeful "Expectation" that once the baby is born, the body will return to normal.
The hidden turtle represents the "Expectation" of a slow process of developing the baby over a period of nine months as well as the "Expectation" that the Birth process in itself may be slow over several hours and not instantaneous. And of course, getting the body back in shape is also a very slow process that takes a turtle's determination to make it happen.
A Bothers Love
"A Brother's Love", © 2005 Eugenia Algaze Garcia, a pencil drawing of a pregnant mother (the artist 10 years ago) on the beach with her first born son. This artwork captures the loving feelings of a mother and her almost 4 year old son toward the unseen "face" of a sibling in Mom's tummy. The artwork also shows the "faces" of hidden symbolic companions dog, bear, alligator, and a busy mom running, which delves into the sometimes conflicting feelings felt toward an impending birth of a sibling. A "hidden" snail shape on Mom's tummy is the favorite creature of the now almost 10 year old child that was "hidden" in that same belly.
Information on prints available can be found at the following website:
My birth stories can be found at:
From an early age Eugenia Algaze Garcia has been inspired to be creative. She is the daughter of cuban multicultural immigrant U.S. citizens who value education and hard work. Not realizing her talents and thinking that her passion for the arts would require a financial backing, she pursued a career path in accounting. She graduated with a B.B.A. from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. She worked in public accounting and then in the private sector for a time, during which she received her CPA license from the State of Texas and earned an M.B.A. from University of Houston at Clear Lake. She married and had two children.
For over 35 years Eugenia fed her passion and taught herself to express her ideas while providing personal gifts to her family and a handful of friends in her spare time and with limited training, (including an Art 111 class from Texas A&M University in 1985 with Professor Robert Schiffhauer, a Painting I class by Nina Beall at Kingwood College in 1994, a couple of water color workshops by Carla Gauthier in the summer of 2002 at the Texas Arts Alliance Center
of Clear Lake, and various books from the Harris County Public library).
In first grade, Eugenia first became fascinated with shape recognition during a classroom hidden letter recognition art exercise. This, followed by many years of reading Highlights magazines in Dentist offices, sparked part of her art style. She has 2 aunts who are artists. Her art has also been influenced by psychology learned from her mother, who is a psychotherapist. In 2003, Eugenia decided to pursue art as a career.
Eugenia Algaze Garcia's paintings have exhibited internationally on-line, and locally, in various juried and non-juried exhibitions. Some of her artworks have won awards.
She is a member of The Galveston Art League, The Arts Alliance Center at Clear Lake, the UHCL Art Association, the National Society of Artists, Artistas Del Mar, and Artists At Work (Adult Art League of KVPAC). In addition, she volunteers to teach a workshop through the "World of Art" program for the children at the Galveston Shriner's Burn Hospital.
Eugenia Algaze Garcia was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1965.
More information about the artist, her artworks can be found at
www.mindful-art.com
