In October of 1998, Gilda's Club of Grand Rapids and the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts presented an exhibit of 34 watercolors by Mark VandeBrake entitled "Living with Cancer." Nine months before the show, Mark was diagnosed with Malignant Melanoma. Instead of writing about his emotional challenges in diaries, Mark created a journal of watercolors in two series documenting his "Journey with Melanoma." Describing these images, Mark said, "Most of my watercolors were done lying down in bed, driven by a need to get my feelings down while going through treatment. A lot of the images came from dreams or from the time just before falling asleep or waking up." Although Mark was more interested in "expressing his heart" than producing works of art for public viewing, he was pleased that others living with cancer had responded so positively to the emotional value of seeing the pictures, and welcomed the opportunity to display them in a public show. Pictures from the first series are largely allegorical and symbolic. The second series is a more descriptive and realistic progressive account of the artist's illness and first signs of remission.
