Story: A larger than life version of my mother’s memory of brushing my hair after my first chemo treatments. We are seated in front of a wall of leukocytes, white blood cells, to stand in for the Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia that impacted our lives at that time. We are crowned to show the importance of our relationship, and implies my mother’s catholic background as well. I am coloring while wearing a bright yellow dress, trimmed with a butterfly collar. • Silly story: my son, who was 2 at the time, actually scribbled on the lower right area, although some is covered, knowing it is there makes me laugh.

Symbols: Butterflies, dress, blood, crayons, crowns, hair, blood cells, drawing, jewels, mother, daughter, hairbrush, hair loss, side effects

Media: Acrylic, plastic, hair, plastic jewels, fabric, paper, color pencils, bristles, water-soluble oils, rice paper on canvas

Below are some vids of past Twitch streams while creating this work from 2018.

Painting blood cells part 1

Painting blood cells part 2

Creating the butterfly watercolor and rice paper trim for my yellow dress.