"An Unkindness,” is the term used to reference a flock of ravens, the drawing impresses upon the viewer a sense of foreboding and threat. The ominous, swirling unkindness in the middle panel of the triptych and the pack of wolves, jaws wide in preparation for attack, in the adjacent, confer a theme that has become central to O’Neil’s oeuvre: life on Earth is arduous and fraught with challenge. A reprieve is found in the heavenly scene of the right panel of the triptych. Reminiscent of the pastel Impressionist paintings of Claude Monet and Georges Seurat, the ethereal landscape is a paradoxical bookend, one that offers hope and optimism, to austere darkness.

"Traveling to Spain and Portugal this summer and seeing every Goya I’ve ever wanted to see also influenced this work. I also saw the painting that basically started my career….Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights. Seeing his work in person prompted me to tackle multi-panelled work again, and to do so in a daring and unexpected way. I also saw Picasso’s Guernica and frankly thought I could make a large drawing that rivaled it. I don’t know that I quite beat him with this one, but I think I’m about 3 big drawings away from making a piece that might take Guernica down. Our themes aren’t that different. Our subject matter basically the same. But I have no shame in saying that I saw Guernica, was impressed, but also knew it wasn’t the end-all-be-all that I’ve always been taught and told it is. Before I die, I will make a drawing better than that painting." -- Robyn O'Neil