It might be quite complicated to combine life and art sometimes. One can be immersed into the beauty of a mountain ridge or a sunset above vineyards, but it is hard to say how to materialize this particular moment into a painting for instance. Taking a picture of this magnitude or making a drawing carries an appearance of a shallow kitsch. On top of that, one would have to filter out from the mind memories of the cold beads of sweat on your face while hiking up the mountains, being hungry or having a scraped leg, or being consumed by tons of mosquitos while sitting next to vines and soothing sunburned skin with white yogurt. Even the most beautiful moments have more or less a reversed side and it is hard to find the balance between a lie and kitch, truth and purity.
Aforementioned applies to a small child as well. Naturally, yours is the loveliest, each look at them makes you happy, each poop, little tooth, step or the first sentence is praised, but what about it? It is nearly impossible to draw or take a picture of it, resisting a sugary touch there is beyond human (parent) power. Furthermore, each little poop stinks fairly, little tooth doesn’t let you sleep and little steps may just cause bumps.
Yet comics is a neat medium to capture these situations. It can be very distinctive but general, harsh and kind, genuine but also completely fictional at the same time. You can only imagine which of these outlooks you will find in the panels and speech balloons of Martina Pastoreková. It is for sure, there are all of them. And don’t worry, she loves her son…