This piece was painted in plein air in South Boulder, Colorado, on an early spring day. I created this piece not long after the tragic mass shooting at King Soopers, my neighborhood grocery store. The warmth and sunshine of the day felt like a balm to all of the grief and anxiety that had been stoked in weeks prior. I wrote a private poem after the event, about the sense of bonding with neighbors I hadn’t been able to connect with since moving to the area at the beginning of the pandemic. The title, “Sister” alludes to this newfound sense of kinship within the community. After that day, it felt like we all became family. I’m so grateful to the people in my community and the land that has helped us heal.