Concentration #10

This piece is Multiple Sclerosis. This genetic disease causes the coating on the nerve cells to deteriorate, depicted in the frayed orange nerve cell in the bottom left corner. The blue and purple nerve cells are smooth and healthy.  The brown round shapes are the nerve cell extensions as they appear under a microscope. The ones in the bottom section are slightly fades and the outlines, the coating that deteriorates, is very thin. The ones in the top of the painting are dark with thick coatings like healthy nerve cells. I added some fraying to the brown nerve cells in the bottom of the picture to strengthen the anomaly.

Concentration #9

This piece depicts PKU (Phenylketonuria). I chose bright yellow for the healthy section (bottom two-thirds) and a cool blue for the unhealthy section (top third). PKU causes brain damage, represented by the unraveling brain in the top of the painting. The other two brains are solid looking to convey that they are healthy. The three molecules running vertically in the middle of the bottom section are the type of molecule a person with PKU is missing, therefore the top lacks this molecule. The missing molecule normally converts the little yellow molecules seen in the top of the painting (phenylalanine) into the small blue molecules seen in the bottom of the painting (tyrosine). So, the little yellow molecules are accumulating disorderly in the top of the painting and the normal product is seen in organized rows in the bottom of the painting. The shape of the little molecule, the hexagon, is magnified in the large green shape seen in the background to give the eye a break from looking at all the little shapes and to integrate the two sections of the painting. I am very pleased with the composition of this painting. I think it has good balance and rhythm, and the anomaly in the brain and the anomaly with the various molecules are strongly evident.