"It's the history of how it all began. This is Ms. Jenna twisting out cancer when she was in treatment. The messages on the wall are all the inspiration comments she got from dancing and sharing her story. Dancing made Ms. Jenna happy during her journey and it makes me happy too during my journey."

This was a piece I did after talking with my inspiration about her experience with cancer and how it completely changed how she saw herself and her value. Cancer was the unfortunate impetus for a lot of positive change in her life, and this is something that I connected with deeply. There have been several major traumatic events in my life that have similarly helped me to see my own value and change my direction for the better. An image that kept coming to mind when talking to August was a phoenix, rising from the ashes, an image that has been meaningful for me for more than a decade. While reading her blog, I came across a photo of her dancing and felt inspired to do a digital charcoal drawing of it and as I considered the phoenix, I began to see August as a phoenix, and transformed the drawing of her into her rising from a flame with wings of fire. I am in awe of August's strength of character, her compassion, and her trust in herself. Meeting and talking with August has helped me in my journey to trust myself and continue on the path that feels right for me, and that has healed some of my own still aching wounds that threaten to hold me back.

My Inspiration, Bobbie, shared with me pictures of her scar, and in this painting I wanted to make it look like a beautiful piece of jewelry. There is a jewelry-making process called "Cast Not Set" (which inspired the title of this painting) where gems are placed in molten metal and the jewelry's outcome is not predetermined. I thought this would be a wonderful metaphor for Bobbie's journey through cancer and the determination she shows in her recovery. In my art, I always aim to create beauty from images where others only see trauma and in that, offer a positive momento from the medical imagery a cancer survivor has collected in their cancer journey.

he beauty of woman and the flowers. I wanted to show how every woman is beautiful in any way.

I painted this piece before my 2nd cancer diagnosis. Little did I know it seems to have been a foreshadowing. This piece is so meaningful to me as I looked at it and reminded myself that I do in fact have a beautiful body! no matter what. I was surprised to see so many beautiful colors and playfulness that came out during this intuitive painting process. While involved with Twist I really realized how art has impacted my life and how amazing it is to tell your story and have it reflected in a piece. Its like a mirror of your journey. I loved the love and validation I received thru my artist and her rendition. What a cool concept!!!!! Thank you!

My inspiration emailed a list of influences and some photos of her family. I created an artwork around some of the influences. The artwork invokes a sense of healing and positivity.