I was honored to be in Mirolsav Antic's Painting Studio while working toward my BFA at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. There, I started my work with this series of magnolias, inspired by a magnolia tree in the front of my Memere and Pepere's house in California.  Though pinecones were also in my grandparents backyard, I really drew them because of their many layers, which make dark hiding places.