{"id":2,"date":"2025-10-31T18:15:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T22:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madmother.ca\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2025-11-03T13:24:54","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T18:24:54","slug":"2-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/madmother.ca\/","title":{"rendered":"The Original Mad Mother"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:300px\">\n<p>One night, up at abut 2 am to feed my firstborn, I figured I might as well continue work on a portrait commission I&#8217;d started before she was born. Holding the baby at the breast on one side, I held a pencil in my free hand and went to work. It was a bit complicated at first, with lots of shifting around and I thought &#8220;I must be MAD.&#8221; I figured it out though, and Mad Mother Designs was born alongside Thing One&#8217;s first few weeks of life, entering a new era of my artistic life&#8230;the rest, as they say, is history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today I maintain an art studio in a converted mobile army shelter (yes, it\u2019s totally awesome) in my back yard in Arnprior Ontario. When I\u2019m back in the main house, I&#8217;ll be renovating (fancy word for fixing) &#8211; or just yelling at all those crooked walls.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kept going by a healthy sense of humour and an inability to&nbsp;quit, I continue to draw and draw and draw &#8211; I\u2019m happiest with a pencil in my hand (second only to a decent watercolour brush) and pursue commissioned graphite portraits and watercolour house portraits. I am intensely focused while drawing;  the rest of the world slips away, and everything seems right &#8211; no easy task these days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/girl.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"253\" data-id=\"143\" src=\"https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/girl-300x253.jpg\" alt=\"pencil, graphite, drawing, portrait, girl, detailed\" class=\"wp-image-143\" srcset=\"https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/girl-300x253.jpg 300w, https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/girl.jpg 682w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wp-1666528218943-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" data-id=\"568\" src=\"https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wp-1666528218943-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Jamie portrait of a dog\" class=\"wp-image-568\" srcset=\"https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wp-1666528218943-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wp-1666528218943-1024x1020.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wp-1666528218943-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wp-1666528218943-768x765.jpg 768w, https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wp-1666528218943-1536x1530.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wp-1666528218943-2048x2040.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wp-1666528218943-1x1.jpg 1w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/91-fourth-note-card.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"219\" height=\"300\" data-id=\"953\" src=\"https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/91-fourth-note-card-219x300.png\" alt=\"Watercolour house portrait\" class=\"wp-image-953\" srcset=\"https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/91-fourth-note-card-219x300.png 219w, https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/91-fourth-note-card-748x1024.png 748w, https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/91-fourth-note-card-768x1051.png 768w, https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/91-fourth-note-card-1122x1536.png 1122w, https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/91-fourth-note-card-1x1.png 1w, https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/91-fourth-note-card.png 1472w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 219px) 100vw, 219px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/20120909_084926.jpg\"><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-id=\"137\" src=\"https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/20120909_084926-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-137\" srcset=\"https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/20120909_084926-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/20120909_084926-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/madmother.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/20120909_084926-880x660.jpg 880w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One night, up at abut 2 am to feed my firstborn, I figured I might as well continue work on a portrait commission I&#8217;d started before she was born. Holding the baby at the breast on one side, I held a pencil in my free hand and went to work. It was a bit complicated at first, with lots of shifting around and I thought &#8220;I must be MAD.&#8221; I figured it out though, and Mad Mother Designs was born alongside Thing One&#8217;s first few weeks of life, entering a new era of my artistic life&#8230;the rest, as they say, is history. Today I maintain an art studio in a converted mobile army shelter (yes, it\u2019s totally awesome) in my back yard in Arnprior Ontario. When I\u2019m back in the main house, I&#8217;ll be renovating (fancy word for fixing) &#8211; or just yelling at all those crooked walls.\u00a0 Kept going by a healthy sense of humour and an inability to&nbsp;quit, I continue to draw and draw and draw &#8211; I\u2019m happiest with a pencil in my hand (second only to a decent watercolour brush) and pursue commissioned graphite portraits and watercolour house portraits. I am intensely focused while drawing; the rest of the world slips away, and everything seems right &#8211; no easy task these days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/full-width.php","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_titles_title":"mad mother designs - drawing, portraits, graphic design","_seopress_titles_desc":"drawing for everyone...photography, graphic design &amp; support for small business...and many other creative compulsions that keep me awake at night","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>mad mother designs - drawing, portraits, graphic design<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"drawing for everyone...photography, graphic design &amp; support for small business...and many other creative compulsions that keep me awake at night\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/madmother.ca\/index.php\/2-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"mad mother designs - 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