Some artist's work is instantly recognized because of something that they have in their paintings. 

For Michelle Pickering it was her peacocks.  The colourful bird was featured in a number of her works, including one on her own garage door in the city.

On Sunday (May 24) Michelle passed away at the age of 45 after a battle with cervical cancer.  Yesterday she was laid to rest in the Cochrane Cemetery with 37 peacock feathers around her in her casket.  Why 37 feathers?  "My wife always encouraged my son to follow his dreams and that's his hockey jersey number," says Michelle's husband Chad.  "I think she'll definitely have the most beautiful wings where she is."

Chad says his wife battled auto-immune disorders like fibromyalgia for much of her life.  In December 2018 Michelle was in and out of hospital.  In January 2019 the doctors diagnosed her with late-stage cervical cancer.  Michelle began to battle the disease and went through six rounds of chemotherapy.  In May of that year, her doctors couldn't find any sign of cancer.

By the middle of summer Michelle again began to feel poor and cancer cells were detected around her lungs.  She again began fighting the disease and had another screen where doctors could find no trace of the disease.  However, Chad says from there things began to go downhill quickly.

"Other things began happening, infections.  The chemotherapy, the one thing they don't discuss is how hard it is on the body, physically and emotionally.  It was a long journey."

Michelle relied on her art and personal beliefs to keep her going but her final journey to the hospital ended with her death.  Chad says after all Michelle's battles they had been expecting her to rally once again, so her passing was a shock to everyone involved.

In 2006 when the Pickerings moved to Airdrie, Michelle became part of the Airdrie Arts Society and was involved in several projects.  She painted a mural at the Boys and Girls Club and another in the gym at A.E. Bowers School.  Michelle also contributed to the mural on Main Street and painted several garage doors with peacocks.  Her best-known one was her own.

"The peacock was never intended to get as big as it did," Chad explains.  "But for her, the peacock represented reaching out and trying to inspire people out in the community and to encourage them to find their own beauty, their own creativity inside and out and to reach out to the art community and show them that even a garage door could be made beautiful."

Chad says that's what Michelle always tried to do through her teaching and art, to reach out to people and encourage them to be who they are. "To step out of their norms and look for their own creativity."

Michelle is survived by Chad and her children 15-year-old Sam and 10-year-old Selena.  

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