For artist and Fitchburg resident Christy Grace, drawing mythical animals, such as an “opossumicorn,” was a way for her to work with her daughter and try to create steady income from home.

Those drawings turned into a coloring book, titled “Alphabeticorns” — a collaboration between Grace and her five year old, Eliana that features an alphabetized series of horned animals. The book’s theme is based on Eliana’s bedtime routine, where her mother conceptualizes creatures to protect her at night, Christy told the Star.

The book showcases 27 creatures with fun facts and discussion questions about each animal. Grace said it can be purchased by pledging at least $15 to her Kickstarter: “Alphabeticorns! The Coloring Book” which runs until Thursday, Nov. 19. Eventually, the books will be available on Christy’s website and Etsy shop, “ArtofChristy.” Grace is hoping the book will provide sustainable income for herself and her family. As of Tuesday, Nov. 10, the Kickstarter campaign has 100 backers and just over one-third of it’s $21,500 goal.

For now Christy’s priority is to get the Kickstarter campaign fully funded to cover costs such as shipping, processing fees and the work that went into creating the designs. The books are expected to deliver to campaign supporters before Christmas, she said.

Before COVID-19 reached Wisconsin, Christy said she would attend public art shows and markets to showcase her work, which includes paintings and jewelry often inspired by nature. Since then, Christy has had to rely on virtual means to sell her art, one of those being her Etsy shop, which features custom orders.

But Christy said there isn’t a lot of time to satisfy the orders, since she is home all day with her daughter, helping her with virtual schooling. She said she needed to restructure the way she makes art, so that’s how the coloring book concept was born.

And so the book’s concept spawned out of a nighttime tradition between Christy and her daughter, after Eliana moved into her own room.

To make her feel less nervous about the change, Christy began conceptualizing Eliana imaginary animals with Eliana before bed, telling her they would protect her. Eliana would then “put” the animal on decorative branches and paper birds that hang above her bed to watch over her while she slept.

It soon became that Eliana asked for a new animal every night, Christy said.

Over the past few months, the animals had started to take on some variation of a unicorn. A “toadicorn” and a “platypusicorn” are just some of the creatures the mother and daughter conjured up that can be seen brought to life on the pages of the coloring book.

“We were trying to find a way to bring about the peace and silliness that we felt at night into the world, because it’s kind of a challenging world right now,” Grace said.