My last name is McQueen, and I frequently use the initials 'McQ' for a lot of things in life. So, I started out with all three letters in my draft, but quickly decided to pare it down to just the 'M' for simplicity's sake.

 

The plants are directly reflective of my heritage with the thistle and clover (Scottish-Irish) and my home on the West Coast (best coast), with the dogwood flowers . I really enjoy featuring plants that are not traditionally viewed as beautiful or valuable, and portraying them with elegance and appreciation. Additionally, I added the beetle and wee spider to balance the femininity of the illustration with some earthy humility.  The beetle was selected purely because it looks cool and has no deeper meaning and the spider is an ode to a little spider that lives in my kitchen and catches the moths I am constantly at war with.

 

Now that I see the thumbnail, I see it is off center and could use cropping but, I'm just going to move forward and post this bad boy as is.

 

I really enjoyed this class and hope y'all did too.