In this painting, "Toxic", I attempted to let go of my mind's desire to be perfectly detailed, as detail was something I tended to push in my previous color pencil work. I let go of the desire to be "realistic", especially with the snake. Initially, the snake was to be green, as I wanted it to be real, but I soon remembered that as an artist, we are allowed to create our own realities in our work. The original intent behind this work was to express how I felt about the concept of gift giving for romantic partners.