Artwork - Cherry Family Series

When my sister had her second child, I made her an artwork of three pears overlapping, signifying herself with two beautiful children and what a huge progression they had made to become the 3 of them.

I then wanted to create a similar artwork for my friend Natalie from Wild Horses Label. Nat has 4 kids so it needed to be a fruit that was aplenty and cherries seemed the perfect fit.

Nat, my sister and I are very close. We speak often about how we feel, the complexities of being a mother while working / running a business, the impacts of our relationships and the requirements of young family life. These themes have sparked this idea for a family series set of drawings.

I adored drawing the cherries, I feel really deeply drawn to burgundy in its depth and mood of colour and the curved shape of the cherry feels harmonious to paint. I decided then to explore the concept of 1-10 cherries, with a view to these simple paintings capturing where you are at in this moment in time. In my bedroom I have Solitude and Quartet, because I am myself and I am also part of a family of four. It’s a gentle reminder to myself.

In each series the placement of the cherries is another symbolic layer, who is where at which time- close, attached or in space.

My mind is a very busy place, creatively I work in an unruly manner and I often jump from task to task. In making these simple paintings I had to sit really still and listen, internally and externally which was sometimes the very sweet little birds that live outside my studio - Willy Wagtails, Scarlet Robins and very bright Blue Wrens. Spring is here, the sun is out, along with blossoming fruit trees and our large mulberry tree filled with mulberries.

I hope that these works resonate with you,

Harriette