Maternity
Tribute to the timeless and universal human experience of maternity!
dated 2015 until 2015
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Quick-sketch Zuleika
2015
Study of the model/actress: Interactive collaborative artistic project between two recognized Aruban players/ artists... GN painted/eternalized the maternity process of the Aruban model/actress Zuleika who, inspired by the paintings, put down her thoughts, feelings and personal tale in words:
Zuleika posed for almost all the paintings from this Maternity series, during her whole pregnancy, until after the birth of her daughter.
ABC Islands
2015
ABC ISLAND
How great life is!
Every weekend or even every day
laying on the beach
Enjoying nature,
the most beautiful sunsets.
In the weekends
sweet dancing at night.
And on Monday...
back to work again!
Still sometimes you think...
2015
STILL SOMETIMES YOU THINK...
How beautiful life is,
when you can do what you want, when you want,
Modeling, acting, dancing with who you want,
and going wherever and whenever you want.
But still sometimes you think:
Is this all there is in life?
Isn't there something missing in my life?
Everyone around me has a family and children,
and some are expecting...
Will that ever be a part of my life?
Will this beautiful flat belly ever be able to become as round as a ball?
Will this woman feel the most beautiful thing there is:
the wonder of life,
to ever feel it grow in her belly?
Timeless dreamer (flashback)
2015
TIMELESS DREAMER (FLASHBACK)
Suddenly something unexpected happened...
Not planned...
No monthly visit...
I thought: 'Oh well...I'll wait a little...
Stressed out because of moving, etcetera.
Weeks passed by...
NOTHING...
Suddenly a strange white thick dirty liquid.
A lot of sleeping till very late in the afternoon.
Not wanting all to eat nor drink.
Sensitive to certain smells of people,
clothes and cleaning products...
And always hungry, very hungry!
And excessive urination...
One morning a weird vertigo...
For the first time...
2015
FOR THE FIRST TIME
My belly is becoming rounder and rounder
around my navel.
What will it be...?
A boy? A girl?
What will he/she look like?
How big would it be now?
I'm feeling all of this for the first time.
It's so unique
and beautiful,
I can't describe it!
Summer thoughts
2015
SUMMER THOUGHTS
Summertime...
The weather is beautiful, nature smells great.
A little human being is growing in my belly.
'Does she hear my voice already,' I ask myself.
Will she look like my mother? Or my grandma?
Have grandpa's eyes?
Or look like Mom and Dad?
How beautiful nature is!
A wonder is forming in my belly
into a complete human being
Together
2015
TOGETHER
Oh, what am I feeling here?
I’m feeling... I'm feeling...
I'm feeling something you don't feel.
A tiny human being in my belly that's
moving, growing, eating, living,
that wakes me up in the night to eat,
to go to the toilet,
and makes me avoid my favorite drinks and food,
because she doesn't like them...
But when thinf=gs go right, we do it...
TOGETHER
Morning sickness
2015
MORNING SICKNESS
My belly is so small, that I still can't believe it!
I do feel something in my stomach,
eat many little portions every day:
porridge, bread, cheese,
lots of cheese, lots of muesli and
oh, yes, mangos, strawberries and banana's every morning,
hmmm...
The three months of morning sickness
is finally over...
Now to enjoy and eat well..
every morning!
Fit and Feel
2015
FIT AND FEEL
Pfff!
Nothing fits...
and nothing feels good!
Only dresses that are easy to wear
and feel comfortable.
Everything I like to eat and drink
the babe in my belly doesn't like so much
Keep on trying together what
we both eat and like.
Floral beauty
2015
FLORAL BEAUTY
It's a beautiful sunny day.
Let's go out, little one,
to sniff some fresh air,
to watch beautiful flowers
and meet nice people
Summer inspiration
2015
SUMMER INSPIRATION
The thinner the fabric,
the more delicate it feels,
summer flowers,
the most beautiful colors in nature,
and my child is growing in my belly...
Maternity
2015
MATERNITY
How beautiful is my belly,
beautifully round!
Never thought I would feel this
and that it would be so beautiful
and so nice.
What a great feeling:
the 'maternity feeling.
Mother Nature
2015
'MOTHER NATURE
How beautiful and gorgeous
can such a natural present
of Mother Nature be!
The rounder the belly becomes,
the greater
it feels to me.
Exotic
2015
EXOTIC
You, now growing in my belly,
make me eat strange things:
from Nutella with peanut butter
to international food
which I didn't even know existed,
from icecream with fruit and chocolate
to the most exotic Japanese pancakes
Reflection 1
2015
REFLECTION 1
Why isn't she moving so much anymore?
Is there something wrong?
More appointments with
the midwife.
My belly is getting/becomes harder
Is it almost time?
Reflection 2
2015
REFLECTION 2
I still don't know who she looks like,
but one thing is for certain:
she looked at me straight in the face
in the echo camera / through the transducer
As if she knew that I wanted to see her!
How does she know where the echo camera/transducer is
and that I wanted to see her face?
Concern and hope
2015
CONCERN AND HOPE
With the weeks I become heavier and rounder...
Very curious to know how everything will go.
Hope it goes well.
That 'the pain' will pass quickly.
That we both remain healthy
during and after the arrival of my little one.
That I can hold and t=rock her in my arms, watch her,
admire her, smell her, embrace her...
Butterflies
2015
BUTTERFLIES
It's starting to become cooler.
My belly is rounder and larger.
In nature, I see butterflies
in the most beautiful colors ever.
How beautiful Mother Earth is
in Amsterdam East!
How I enjoy being in the open air!
Enjoying together with my little one
who is growing a bit more every week...
Mama to be
2015
MAMA TO BE
Rounder on all sides,
but less
than I thought
I would become,
hmmm,
Not so bad, isn't it:
for a 'mama to be',
that's what they call me now...,
not bad at all.
7 months
2015
7 MONTHS
It's almost that far
and we did it.
We have survived these months.
My sweet doll,
Mommy loves you
and she prays every night
that it will all turn out well
Inner Listening
2015
INNER LISTENING
Sometimes I think:
'How did Indian women in the wild
endure and experience childbirth way back then?
Would I also be able to do it like them?
|Just listen to my intuition
|and that of my child?
Respect
2015
RESPECT
I admire all moms, grandmas
My female ancestors
who have done this so many times in the past:
11. sometimes 13 times...
I'm so thankful to my mother, my grandmother
and I have a lot of respect for them all...
I get tears in my eyes when I think about them.
Please support me on that day and
please, help me not to panic
because of nerves
Ode
2015
I can't wait to see you,
smell you, feel you, and hear your voice.
Oh, my sweet doll.
from the day I knew about you I loved you,
and wrote everything down,
and feared every day to lose you...
But you are a strong girl!
'Nothing is going to happen, I tell myself.
It's almost that far,
my belly is dropping a little.
The days are passing quickly...
Doubts
2015
DOUBTS
When will it finally happen?
How will I know?
And if I don't get contractions?
Or if...? And if...?
Ohhhh and... oh, noooo!
But then again I think: 'Don't worry,it'll be all right,
you are healthy
and it'll be all right!'
Considerations
2015
CONSIDERATION
My life will be completely upside down
after her birth...
And I (still) have so much to arrange...
for me and for her!
The house, get her room ready,
so many things that I still have to do.
Hopefully, she will not come earlier than calculated...
and if she does come earlier, what then?
What then??
Desires
2015
DESIRES
As the bees in nature
fly to their hive
and the birds to their nest,
that's how I walk home, to my place,
full of desire, every day again,
full of joy and inspiration,
with great new ideas
for the little nest of the two of us...
Divine pregnancy
2015
DIVINE PREGNANCY
So impossible... and yet possible.
A little being growing in my belly,
week after week
becoming stronger and bigger,
forming itself into a human being.
A totally complete person,
like me.
That something so beautiful and perfect
can grow and be formed
from two human cells...
Pregnancy in green
2015
PREGNANCY IN GREEN
According to me, it's almost that far.
It will not be long
before she will be there.
My belly has already dropped...
I cannot lie down nor sit
Pregnancy in red
2015
PREGNANCY IN RED
Oh no, I can't take it anymore!
I'm going to the hospital!
According to me
the time has really come!
Lilian (birth)
2015
LILIAN
After an extreme night of extractions
and brown mucus,
my girlfriend Dody Thiel and I walked
to the OLVG in Amsterdam-East.
For forty-five minutes I pressed twelve times...
and without an epidural... or surgery...,
and in pain since two o'clock in the morning... boy, oh boy!
The contractions started after an hour and a half...
It took her a while to pass through the narrow channel...
After trying all kinds of positions
during the contractions,
she has finally come into the world!
Finally, she is here, my hairy pretty girl,
Looking at me with black beady eyes...
Lilian is her name...
Oh, I just can't believe it...
So beautiful, so sweet, so small...
and she weighed 2778 grams!
Ode to Lilian
2015
ODE TO LILIAN
She has that special smell that babies have.
A natural fragrance... A wonderful scent.
You are
'mi poppetje',
'. mami su duuuushi',
'mami su poppetjeeeee'.
I have persevered well... Ans Lilian too!
My life is so beautiful now that I have her.
I'm no longer alone...
A living miracle inmy life:
'mijn poppetje dushi',
'mi gudu'.
like they say in 'Sranan'.
Song for Lilian
2015
SONG FOR LILIAN
Mama did not know when,
at what age
nor where on Earth.
But suddenly you were there!
My life was upside down.
In a beautiful way...
Mama always sings for you:
'Mama's treasure...
Mama's baby doll...
Mama loves you so much, baby,
Mama has desired and wie=shed for you for so long."
Lilian, my world...
2015
LILIAN MY WORLD
She cries out loud to be breastfed.
Mama is pumping her breast for you...|
I'll be right there baby.
She is my world, my world is Lilian.
I am so happy with her!
We relax a little, sleep well together."keep her warm.
The first days she was mad at Mama.
We taught her 'finger feeding'. before she could be breastfed
to drink the best milk in the world...
Mom's breast milk!
The Light
2015
THE LIGHT
Finally I have her in my arms,
my little angel that moved and grew
for so long in my belly.
That woke Mama up every morning,
very early,
'Do you remember that, Lilian?'
She looks around...
'What an exciting moment,
when you left Mama's belly
and was pushed through the door
towards the light,
to come into the world...
to Mama...'
Maternal bond
2015
I, mama of this little miracle,
my dear Lilian,
my doll, my everything,
who wakes me up every day,
who goes to bed with me,
who soon will call me 'Mama',
For whom I will enjoy .cooking,
whom I will build up a life with,
for a long time,
experience funny things with.
To whom I will give the best of myself...
The miracle of life,
that was formed and grew in my belly
and has now come into the world