it’s not like before by Gay Nickle Lauritzen

This could have had blue hair. That's what Gay put in the "Finished artwork" folder.

As with hand and face, she eventually settled on a more natural look.

She was a little surprised this turned out to be her best-selling piece. Kent thinks it's something about the expression. The earliest version she saved of this, from June 23, 1999, had a more unhappy look.

Within a couple days she arrived at the peaceful wistfulness of the final version.

Originally called "things not like before," its direct inspiration was her loss of ability to hold her head up. A similar tilting of the head can be seen in several other prints from the show - my matisse, hand and face, heart on my sleeve, ridiculous body blues - and some pieces that weren't in the show. Some are from before she couldn't hold her head up, she liked the look in a general way.

The version at the top of the page is a slightly delightened version of the one sent to the printer:

This is the last piece on the tour through the show. The "Next" button takes you to digital pieces that weren't in the show.

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