In Defense of Counting Your Chickens Before They Hatch is a triple self-portrait that I painted as an argument against the old phrase "don't count your chickens before they hatch." Instead, I argue, counting your chickens before they hatch is a necessary acquiescence to the great human urge to hope– to believe in a better future. The self-portrait exists across three realities— the imagined past within the larger figure’s shirt, the present larger figure painted from my own reference, and the cross-time connection of the two in the hands, which were painted from life. This time play creates the effect of a palimpsest— a piece conveying hope for selves past, present, and future, with no hesitation around counting chickens.