A Portrait of the Artist as a Busy Mother

The December deadline for submission to the CBA Professional Art Show & Sale had already passed.

But at the encouragement of a friend, Holmdel artist Desiree Rose Zaslow took a chance and submitted her artwork for consideration.

She chose five of her oil paintings, uploaded the images to her computer and pressed 'send.'

Zaslow, 40, knew she wanted to be an artist since winning a painting competition in first grade. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in Business Arts and a Master's Degree in Arts Education from Parsons of School of Design, New York City. But neither the corporate world of fashion merchandizing nor teaching art in grades K-12 quite satisfied her deep yearning to make her own art.

“I felt like I'd lost my creativity, the corporate world wasn't me,” she said. “And teaching was hugely satisfying but so demanding, it left no time for my own work.”

Despite fully embracing full time motherhood to daughter Sophia, 7, and son Luke, 5, the itch for art became more urgent once they began school full time last fall.

“Turning 40 made me realize it was now or never,” she said, “and my husband and children encouraged me to pursue painting full time.”

Since September 2010, Zaslow has painted every day, producing ten full scale paintings, all in oil on linen canvas.

“I felt like I was finally on the right path,” she said. “The work just exploded. Once I'd emailed my work to CBA, I was anxious to find out if anyone else thought so too.”

But she didn't have to wait long.

“CBA emailed back within an hour,” said Zaslow, “I was so excited, I woke up my husband.”

Zaslow, who goes by Desiree Rose professionally, will be joined by hundreds of painters, sculptors, jewelry designers and others hoping to sell their work and make new contacts at the CBA Art show. 

Zaslow, however, is the only artist from Holmdel.  Both she and her husband, Daryl, grew up here and both still have family in town as well.

This is her first juried show.

“It's just so affirming,” she said. “You worry, you're so fearful of being rejected. So it's nice to hear someone say we love your work, we want you.”

She calls herself a figure painter and her subjects include portraits of children, female forms, ballerinas, and flowers in classic compositions.

Her creative process begins by taking her own photographs.  Then she produces an initial sketch painting and then builds the painting layer by layer.  Each has a strong source of internal light.

 “I like to catch a moment of thought on a person's face, a moment in time,” said Zaslow.

 “I think of my style as a blend of Old Masters, building up layers of translucent color, but then I love the Impressionists where they capture a moment that no one really knows about. I try to put those two styles together in my paintings,” she said. 

She credits her teacher, artist Scott Nickerson of Tinton Falls, with helping her develop the layering technique.

“I paint in an very old-fashioned manner but with a very updated theme.”

Each artist purchases and occupies a 10 x 6 foot space for display.   They're encouraged to donate one work of art for the Auction held on opening night.  After that, the artists keep all proceeds from their sales.

Zaslow plans on showing nine framed original oils and a limited edition of signed giclee prints on watercolor paper. Giclee is a digitally processed, high resolution image of an original work of art. The full sized prints feature a recent series of ballerinas.

Zaslow's work ranges from $500 to $800.

Once the Art show is over, Zaslow plans to get her house in order and concentrate on several recent commissions.

“My family is really supportive," said Zaslow.  "That's how I can do this.  We're all figuring this out together."

“The laundry's not getting done, I don't have eggs in the refrigerator all the time, but I'm making it work.”

“I'm learning.”

For More Information

The 36th Annual CBA Professional Art Show & Sale, 850 Newman Springs Road opens with a reception and preview on Friday, February 4, 2011 from 7 p.m. To 10 p.m. The show continues Saturday and Sunday, February 5th and 6th from 10 a.m. To 4 p.m.  For more information, visit www.cbaartshow.org.