I have been an artist as long as I can remember. I stuck with pen and pencil cartooning mostly. But there's barely a medium I haven't at least tried. I particularly love creating 3D pieces out of foam core, but I get the most joy drawing characters that reflect all the wonderful (and not so wonderful) aspects of humans.

I chose this haiku without hesitation. I've always loved stark contrasts, and the balance between the hard, cold architecture of this city and the soft and warm character of its residents is something I have always loved. This was my first attempt at creating a piece fully digitally, and I love what it let me do with color to bring it to life.

Syracuse has so much character. We have a rich history of heroes and villains, tragedy, triumph and lives lived. I chose this haiku because it made me think immediately of our city's character. Echoing the past and imagining the future is how I believe so many arrived here. The old rail transfer station was an obvious choice not just because of its now iconic statues; it reflects on our city's history as a hub of comings and goings, beginnings and ends. I love the stark contrast of our city's many diverse people and backgrounds and our gritty determination to survive and thrive. This haiku illustrated this perfectly for me, and I tried to capture that in illustrating it for you.

I love this city and all the quirky things we do. I've never thought twice about the inherent weirdness of people running up and down every hill they could find—growing up in Strathmore, I looked forward to seeing the runners doing their thing.

As a runner myself at the time, I really couldn't think of an activity more liberating or enjoyable. Pair that with the beautiful views up on the hill and I thought it was magic. I chose this poem because it reminded me of these feelings, and it created this picture in my head immediately.

The absurdity of the literal image was too much to pass on—I really enjoyed the way this poem made me feel and laugh.