Pregnant-Belly Painting Has Gone Mainstream

via @MariahCarey

Mimi's "attempt @ festiveness."

Taking a cue from Mariah Carey mothers-to-be across the city are emancipating (get it?) themselves from baring boring protruding stomachs, instead opting to feature images like a butterfly flying through clouds and the word "Om."

But maybe we're reading this the wrong way, maybe we should embrace this trend as an art form:

RoByn Thompson, who runs pregnantbellypainting.com, said it has becoming common "as opposed to something unusual five years ago."

"The belly is the perfect surface. It's nice and round," Thompson said.

Okay, so next we may see famous artists taking advantage of this underutilized platonic ideal of surface and doing belly-work. How about a Damien Hirst on your stomach?

The Daily News explains that women who want a "memento" of their pregnancies are using painting as an alternative to Annie Leibovitz shoots Demi Moore naked on the cover of Vanity Fair-style images. We have to wonder though, isn't the resulting child memento enough? Or how about a simple delivery room snapshot? Remember, your belly will disappear, the paint will come off, but the kid will always be your baby.

New York Times, what's the etiquette on how to behave around a pregnant, painted belly?

[ezwrites]