Carolyn Siegel

Mountainview, CA
“Flying free”
Acrylic and fabric on canvas
18” x 24”
$600
Artist Statement: My motivation for making art has always been self-expression. I don’t paint or sculpt what I see outside, but rather I create to give voice to what I feel within. Participating in Brushes with Cancer Winter 2026 was both a challenge and a joy. While most of my artwork tells my own story or feeling, the challenge for me was figuring out how to “get inside” of my Inspiration to tell her story. And that was where the joy came in. During our video calls, Michele was very open to going on guided visualizations and sharing with me images that came to her to represent what she was feeling: (rough, yellow green for pain); sharing that her happy place is moving water (out of which the bird flies); telling me about her family and how she is surrounded by her support team, including her ancestors (flowers), her daughters (butterflies), and her living family and friends (the stars within the flower centers), and what her grandmother would tell her if she were here (fly free). The bird represents her grandmother’s love, and its colorful feathers represent Michele’s hope, strength, and dreams.