In the Mother and Child series, I sought to liberate my expectations and therefore find a new visual language of expression through a collaborative practice with my toddler. Feeling forced by current circumstances and new norms, I abandoned my more representational style of drawing and painting in which I carefully observe and render light, color, detail and form. I debased my formal ways of creating and rely solely on my toddler’s whim and fancy and my strongly engaged reptilian brain. Reminiscent of the Cave of the Hands, we marked time and space together in this way. We worked side by side in short spurts of “painting time” during the day using mixed materials ranging from and certainly not limited to neon Crayola washable paints, a Caran D’Ache Neocolor set, soft drawing pencils and white gel pens on multiple, small (approx 5x7) pieces of paper. My toddler made marks, we traced or printed our hands and feet using line or paint. I then intuitively layered color on top of these marks and outlines, choosing how much to leave exposed or thinly cover, pushing and pulling our figures, meditatively adding lines, revisiting a piece numerous times before reaching a final destination to our meanderings. What started as teaching my toddler how to trace our hands and feet turned into a raw, intimate portrait of our mother and child relationship, our day to day, however chaotic, delicate, tiring or tender