Humans live a long time.

That is, relative to most of the creatures on this Earth. This realization prompted me to create this piece. Below the female subject, I painted species with life spans shorter than humans. Above, I painted species with longer life spans. In the background, I have listed life spans of various animals, from the longest (some jellyfish live for 500 years!) to the shortest (mayflies only live for 24 hours).

Knowing how “lucky” we are to get roughly 80 years of living helps me appreciate life more and grow more comfortable with death.

The animals and human were painted with watercolor, while the background text was done digitally.

Dimensions (H x W): 14” x 11”