This began as a personal piece, a small homage to my mom. She was a single parent and most of the time had trouble keeping her head above water, but she was always so very centered and calm. She rarely lost her cool and she usually had some genuinely off-the-wall plan to make things better. (Which usually worked!)
She also wore a long,cloisonne,reticulated fish pendant pretty regularly. I was absolutely fascinated with that thing for years! Even when things were tight, she made a point of putting on a little sparkle to make things better.
I had not intended to have this piece be more than this, but my dear friend Adam Crafter asked me for the right to use it for the cover of his audiobook. He is a stay at home dad of two little girls and I thought Mom would dig having her image for his work.