This painting narrates the personal story of Elana. Elana is an exceptional taxidermy and wood sculpture artist. She feels as though she infuses life back into the objects that she creates.  She has compared it to being a puppet master, and states that she is “making companions for herself”. In the painting, she is shown with tassels (puppet strings) coming from her hair. The life-like raccoon on her head is one of her “companions”. The raccoon also represents somewhat of a mischievous character, not unlike Elana. The circle on her cheek represents her interest in the macabre. She finds beauty in the abnormal, which you can see as a focus embodied in her work. Although the characteristics of beauty and the abnormal oppose one another in one sense, they also compliment one another and add complexity and intrigue to beauty. All situations exist because of the balancing of opposing forces and although these forces appear to be separate, they are in fact the same. The up and down overlapping triangles behind her symbolize this balance. The circle behind her however, represents her focus in life, which is her art. Like Most artists, Elana has not had an easy path, but she is focused on making her life more stable with the power of her creativity and her drive to be a successful artist. The horizontal lines protruding from the circle represent that levelness that she is striving for.