Living in the Midwest, I conceived "Essentials" as a work of art to celebrate the region's strong agricultural heritage. An amalgamation of dairy, grain, and farm products, each carefully detailed and precisely described, comes together to form a resplendent impression of farming's vitality. However, the painting took on new meaning as artists across the country moved their studios into their homes and continued painting under "shelter in place" COVID restrictions, and everywhere people scrambled to purchase essentials.