April was a month of mourning for me...
Two mothers that I follow on social media were telling their experiences with child loss. For one mother who lost her 7-month-old son, his birthday is in April; he would be turning 3-years-old. For another mother, she lost her 4-year-old daughter to brain cancer, and April marks the month of her 6-week long sleep before her passing...
I was engulfed in grief, and I did not know how to work through it... Until one day, I was possessed by an idea -- to pick up the brush, so to speak 🖌️ I began to pour myself into art.
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(Also, I just want to add that I did NOT draw these pictures -- ONLY coloured them. I used pencil crayons and markers. The colouring book is titled "Pop Manga: Mermaids and Other Sea Creatures" by Camilla d'Errico.)
(Source: https://a.co/d/fJ7Q2Ve)
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The first picture that I worked on was for Luna 💜🌙 She loves Rapunzel and the magical powers of her long hair, so I thought that she might enjoy being a beautiful mermaid~ 🧜♀️ As I stood in the kitchen for countless hours working on it, I could hear Luna: "Come see the bundle bees!~ 🐝" I imagine she would have a pretty unique name for the pufferfish as well... Finally I decorated the drawing with purple butterfly stickers -- one of her favorite symbols in her favorite color... I ended up sharing it with Luna's mother; she said Luna would love it...
(This is Luna; photo taken from Coralfully's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BWQs15fxD/)
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The second picture was for Noah's 3rd birthday, and as such, I tried finding a picture that would capture his current age. He loves the movie Luca -- it is a Pixar film about a boy who lives a double life as a sea creature -- so I thought the aquatic theme would suit that perfectly!~ 😄 As well as the fact that Noah was named after the greatest sailor in history, who saved mankind from the Great Flood...
(Noah at 7-months-old: https://www.beckerfamilyfuneral.com/obituary/noah-vazquez)