Sandra.

The first of these storytellers was a lop-eared rabbit named Sandra. Through caring for her during some of the most challenging periods of my life, I began to discover both my strengths and my shortcomings.

She taught me patience, responsibility, compassion, and the quiet kind of love that asks for little but gives so much in return. She was one of the first animals to help me understand that the stories worth listening to are often the ones spoken without words.

ArkinArt exists because of Sandra. Every portrait we create carries a thread of what she taught me — that companionship is sacred, that quiet presence is its own kind of language, and that honouring an animal's story is a way of honouring our own.