To the Egyptians, beetles symbolized coming into existence. They were a reference to regeneration and the idea that new life comes through death.  In 2017, I was walking through the University of Kansas Natural History Museum in Lawrence, KS, and I was taken by a preserved two-inch beetle. I photographed it, and I found myself pulling up the image repeatedly. I was taken by the patterns and the play of light across the beetle’s wings and thorax.  As I stared at the pattern, I began to consider the pattern of the beetle against the patterns in our home. On the surface, I began to play with the compositions and color combinations that were possible by juxtaposing these two things. Beneath the surface, I was using these paintings to work through my own regeneration, a baptism of sorts. The repeated cycle of painting these beetles serves as a meditation—a coming into existence.