This is my self portrait. It is inspired by Halloween Team. It is my favorite holiday and I like to enjoy it by dressing up and going to events.

This is Anna and Amadeusz making marks together. Look at his face.

Amadeusz created this piece at school using his eyes and the Eye-Gaze tablet - with the help and encouragement from his 1:1 nurse, Frances.

Acrylic pouring on canvas.

Ashleigh chose the colours of her artwork using eye gaze technology. Yellow, red, blue and white paint was used. She chose which colour was to be added to the cup first and indicated using eye blinking when there was enough of that colour in the cup. She then chose subsequent colours and amounts in the same way.

Using a chopstick, Ashleigh was assisted to lightly mix the colours in the cup. Mum poured the paint onto the canvas until it was covered. Ashleigh then used the chopstick to make gentle lines in the paint.

She even left a few small fingerprints to officially make her mark.

We reached out to Bella's elementary school Art teacher, Mrs. Christian Conners - White Bluffs Elementary (Richland, WA, USA). She dedicated an afternoon of creating some art together. Bella led her creative vision, while Mrs. Conners helped facilitate.

Bella created a couple of art pieces.She melted crayons. She grabbed primary colors and painted. After it dried, she dabbed her art with a firecracker, creating a unique design.

"HAPPY" is a picture that shows Billy's family and people who are close to him. It makes Billy happy to be with people, socialize and engage with them.

Cam loves to feel the paint on his hands and slide them around the paper. He uses big movements and both hands.

Charlie loves going to daycare at The Smucker Child Development Center. His teachers, Ms. Jody and Ms. Emily, help Charlie explore and learn about the world around him.

Charlie picked his colors, dipped balls in paint, and smeared and rolled them over the paper. Charlie was very proud of his artwork when he showed it to us after daycare.

Cubby chose his favorite colors for his artwork. He began with blue and orange, and then selected more colors to finish his piece.

Deniz painted this artwork himself at preschool for Mother's Day. It is the first piece of artwork sent home to us. I just know how much joy this would have brought him to do.

The paintings (Dimitra's and her brother's Nicholas') were made with love for all the angels above us.

The story of the peacefulness of the beach, water, trees and Eli supporting his brother.

Ink marker on paper. Elliott, with the support of his Mum, Gabrielle, captured these marks to champion his voice and share his excited response to Layla: The Festival of Mark Making 2023.

This artwork was created at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

Emma does not like to have "Blank Space" on her artwork - she believes the more color she can use, the more vibrant her artwork is.

Painted in remembrance of the most beautiful little girl. Layla 💜

Feathers representing the freedom of a bird . Hearts representing love, compassion, empathy. The freedom to love with all our hearts.

This artwork was created at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

This Japanese character means smile. It was made collaboratively by Emma and her educator.

Eric chose his favorite colors to create his artwork.

Eric created this artwork at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

My caregiver and I collaborated to create what we call Colorful Magic . I love to create shapes and patterns with different colors . When my caregiver asked what I wanted to call this, I said “magic and color”.

Ethan can use his eyegaze color screen to select different colors. We used the color picked, whether it was intentional or not ☆

Purple is Sophie's favorite color. Sophie also likes flowers but cannot really draw them well herself. She asks for others to draw them for her and often reminds that her flowers need to be purple.

We would give Layla baths in the back yard together, enjoying the sky and the warmth of the yellow light of the sun. It was a special family day every time because we could just be with each other, laugh and play away from hospitals and other medical needs.

We used charcoal and paper to make rubbings of the area we used to bathe Layla in for this exhibition. We remembered her and the joy we had together with laughter and play in the beautiful outdoors under the big blue sky again.

We would give Layla baths in the back yard together, enjoying the sky and the warmth of the yellow light of the sun. It was a special family day every time because we could just be with each other, laugh and play away from hospitals and other medical needs.

We used charcoal and paper to make rubbings of the area we used to bathe Layla in for this exhibition. We remembered her and the joy we had together with laughter and play in the beautiful outdoors under the big blue sky again.

Hannah's piece is called "All about me" and it has all the things that make her world colourful e.g. horse riding, swimming, dancing, singing and being from New Zealand. The purple heart and Hannah's hands represent all the SCN8A children who have become angels.

Harlow and her mum, Sophie, created this artwork using Harlow's favorite colours, bringing to life a beautiful butterfly in memory of Layla 💜

This artwork was created at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

Henry attends preschool at Helping Hands Preschool in Medina, Ohio. At preschool, with the help of his teachers Mrs. Good and Mr. B, Henry created this artwork with paint. He made it with spring colors when he was learning about the seasons with all of his friends at school. We are so lucky to have Mr. B and Mrs. Good in Henry's life! They are so patient and kind, and they help him learn and experience things alongside his friends at school.

Through the help of Jellybean Street, professional graphic artists used our three children’s artwork as inspiration to create high-quality, one-of-a-kind canvas print that we will treasure forever. Each colour represented a child (Ivy - pink/purple, Austin -blue, and Max - yellow). Individual handprints and balloon art were incorporated through the artwork.
We had so much fun creating it together, dancing and singing to Taylor Swift tunes.

Jaxon decided to draw what makes him happy every day. He drew a picture of his baby brother.

Jaxon created this artwork at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

Kalina created this artwork at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

"Feathers" is a bright and fun piece. It represents Kalina because she is a "bright light" when she walks into a room. The feathers are there to soften the work. She is a fun loving big hearted child and these colors are her favorites.

This artwork was inspired by Banksy's exhibition in February 2024. I was taken by the image of the little girl with the red balloon. To me she represented the symbol of childhood innocence, hope and love. All of which made me think of Layla. It is a mixed medium of watercolour and textas using the style of zentangle. The big heart balloon represents hope; the young girl represents Layla; the smaller balloons represent the family and people who loved Layla and advocated for her every single day. The yellow sun represents the light that young Layla shone upon those who met her.

Kayla created this artwork at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

Kayla created this artwork at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

Every morning for several weeks, Kelly and Cory, Mae’s parents, would create a different color purple to place their thumbprint in the shape of a heart on the canvas. It was a time of reflection, memory and love. Mae has left an imprint on many lives that she has touched, and as her parents, we carry that imprint forever.

Khloe loves to paint! Painting is so freeing for her. The flowers and heart represent the beauty and love of Khloe and her SCN8A brothers and sister.

A smiley face and love

Layla made a foot print on one of her long stays at Sydney Childrens' Hospital. It became a powerful image that she recognised and would smile well after the event. The artist Sergio Regetalli later made iterations of this image to create a glass artwork for her resting place. The artwork two sculptures of glass representing Layla's original mark making print.

Liam loved creating art pieces at the SCN8A gathering.

My little hands is how I paint. I smiled as I felt the paint on my hands because they are my eyes and because I cannot see. SCN8A has also taken that from me. Please enjoy my marks because they made with love. A little boy named Liam and mommy’s helping hands.

Lily created this artwork with her eyes using a Tobi eyegaze device. She loves bright colors and of course the color purple for epilepsy. Since spasticity in her arms and hands has caused her to lose function in them, it is wonderful that she can now still make her voice heard using her eyes!

This artwork demonstrates a "portal/mysterious object" that represents the unknown knowledge of the SCN8A condition. The stick figures represent the incident bystanders who are aware of SCN8A, but do not fully understand it. The theme of the artwork is asking, "Will you decide to learn more about this rare disorder and help change the lives of the diagnosed?"

The beach is my favorite place to be. I love to surf and playing in the sand.

This artwork was created at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

This artwork was created at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

This artwork was created at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

This piece was created as Lucy recovered from her second of three surgeries during her short life. It represents her strength, resilience, and joyful spirit, as well as her love of bright colors.

Created with crayon on paper. Lucy selected her colors via eye gaze or gesture, then grasped the crayon with help from mom. She then made her marks on paper independently.

Mackenzie created this artwork at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

In the artwork Joan (with SCN8A) is represented in his wheelchair, it also shows Joan's favorite toys (ball- baloia in vasque) and the places where he has traveled; his school, etc.

Mia created this artwork at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

Mia created this artwork at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

This artwork was created at the annual SCN8A gathering. Mia has fun painting with her friends. If you look closely, you’ll find a face in this artwork. :)

These paintings have been curated by Miltos for Layla. Together, they represent 'Enabling Voice' as a process or as symbols of states of being.

This artwork was made in honour of all the angels above us. It is submitted with his sister's Dimitra with the same purpose.

I’ve painted a collection of rocks with a mixture of colours. The rock with many bright colours represents happiness because bright colours make me happy. The “Happy Days Ahead” rock represents looking forward because things can get better. The “Layla” rock is the boss of the rocks because it’s my favourite rock and it helps me remember Layla. I also painted the “We Love You” rock because me and my family love Layla very much. The remaining rocks represent being together and supported by those who love us.

Pan used charcoal and paper to do rubbings of the spaces where she washed and then snuggled with Layla. She then wanted to make it a kite because the string unites then now.

Peto loves to create art of all forms.

Peto loves to create artwork that represents his family.

Peto loves to use bright colors in his artwork.

Peto loves colorful art that utilizes various textures.

Robert loves all things to do with animals. He loves learning animal facts in particular. His favorite color is blue. So here is his Blue Heron he painted the other day.

This art work was created with her grandma Jilli. She was inspired by the sea and all its wonderful creatures.

This cross stitch is a piece I made in honour of Layla, I stitched it during a very special time (while in Toronto, Canada) and gifted it to Costa, Ghaith, and Pan for Christmas. I knew I wanted to create a piece that represented who I knew Layla to be. Layla was fierce, she was powerful. She was, and always will be, a lioness who keeps the crowd in awe.

Sophie loves mixing colors, making new colors, "her own colors" - that are unique like her!

"Adapted Beauty" is a vibrant and expressive piece created by Stella, an 8-year-old with profound physical and intellectual disabilities. Despite experiencing significant hip pain, Stella found solace and comfort while laying on her belly, allowing her creativity to flourish. With the loving support of her nurse, Amber, Stella used this adapted position to explore a world of color and imagination. The title "Adapted Beauty" encapsulates the essence of Stella's experience: transforming a challenging situation into a beautiful expression of her unique perspective and indomitable spirit. This artwork serves as a testament to the power of adaptation and the limitless potential of creativity, regardless of the obstacles faced.

Husker is a character from the adult cartoon called Hazbin Hotel. This show inspired his latest Cosplay outfit which was a piece of art in itself. The drawings are usually the starting point of deciding on his next Cosplay outfit. This art took five days to make. Art is a challenge for Xave as he has continuous seizures that cause tremors in his hands, this is the reason he chooses digital art as an error caused by the tremors can be erased.

Holiday humour and my morning routine!

Got some super fresh komatsuna (Leafy green vegetable) from the neighborhood farmer!
Heard the sound of the river I love.
I forgot to take a picture.

I made an omelette for my sister after returning home.
Ran out of supplies so shopping at seven pm (alone).
It took two hours to make a delicious omurice with sauce marks.

This artwork was created at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

This artwork was created at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

This artwork was created at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

This artwork was created at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

This artwork was created at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

This artwork was created at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

This artwork was created at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

This artwork was created at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.

This artwork was created at the Mark Making Session of the 2023 Annual Gathering in Orlando, Florida.