This particular piece is a very important one for me. It helped me truly grasp the idea of my own mortality and come to terms with it. There can be no life without death, and vice versa. There is a very delicate balance between life and death for every living creature on this planet, and life is a series of fleeting moments. How will you spend them?? Will you fret the fact that any given moment could be your last?? Will being aware of your mortality cause you to cautiously tiptoe safely through life or will you truly seize the day and live every moment to its fullest?? We each have our own paths to navigate.

As you can see, my skull is peaking out from behind my flesh, reminding me what lies just beneath the surface. The ivy is a metaphor for the way that death seemingly creeps up on us, waiting to bring us back home to the earth. The butterflies symbolize transition from one phase of life into the next. Butterflies have long been known as symbols of the human soul leaving the living body and carrying them into the afterlife. The dragonflies symbolize the brevity of life. Dragonflies have a very short life span, yet they are continuously buzzing about. They know that they must make the most of the precious time they've been given.

This piece hangs above my bed so I can see it when I awake in the morning and just before I close my eyes to go to sleep.