The Still Life

Dear Substack friends,

My work focuses on the structures and functions of adoption. I don’t often share other parts of my life. I wanted to do a little of that today.

Some of you may know that my daughter Ruth is a painter. She is also a mother, and she has been receiving treatment for a serious illness for the last two years.

Her eyesight has changed through her treatment, and her art practice has evolved with it. She now paints from a very different visual perspective - as she says - a world that is soft around the edges.

She recently painted this portrait from a photograph taken on the day she was born. Ruth is my third daughter, only the third person I met who was related to me, and I can’t begin to express how precious this painting is to me.

If you are an art lover, Ruth’s website is here: ruthmitchener.com

She has also launched The Still Life, a subscription, in which a small parcel arrives to your letterbox each month. Inside: a hand-signed fine art print, one of Ruth’s own tried-and-true recipes chosen to sit alongside it, a short story specially written by a guest writer to pair with the painting, and a letter from Ruth about the painting, the recipe, and whatever she’s been reading that month.

Ruth’s quiet life, her identity and art are seamlessly woven through her mothering and homemaking. In these days of online and virtual life, it is a rare gift to receive something so beautiful through the mail. Something real and tangible to hold in your hands.

With love,
Barbara

Coming up soon: Gaslight Me Again - the conflation of the adoptological and biological family