acrylic, leaves, ferns, robin‚'s eggs, maple leaves, gold pigment, and toner on wood

Commissioned by Brenda and Wes Nicolls, each panel celebrates one of their children. Matt and Brian‚'s shared interests - baseball - spans both of their panels, while Blake hits one out of the park. Brian‚'s predominantly red panel shares a football field with Blake, while Matt carries the ball. Hanna‚'s mermaid dives beneath Japanese maple leaves, amongst hand written love notes, while Blake does a handstand on top of the world. Maps celebrate and indicate the birthplace of each. Love of cards is present in each: antique cards wrap around Matt‚'s, a king tops Brian‚'s, Blake gets the joker, and Hanna has the queen of hearts. The font for each is deliberately chosen - the first born‚'s font is capitalized with serifs. Brian‚'s is a contrast-cursive with structure. Blake‚'s is a playful combination of styles, and Hanna‚'s is in Cezanne's gorgeous script. A vintage image of the earth spirals and spans three of our next generation. Each panel nestles a robin‚'s egg that rolled onto the family patio this spring. It presented itself as a fitting metaphor for Brenda and Wes‚'s parenting.