Sustained Investigation VIII

Up close and personal

9 in x 6 in

Watercolor, india ink, & gouache

For this assignment, we had to create an eighth piece for our sustained investigations. This was my first piece since altering my inquiry question, which changed from "How can I convey mental illness through art?" to "How can I use color and perspective in portraits to convey mental illness?" With my inquiry question being more specific, I knew I needed to use perspective and color with purpose in this piece. I decided to make my portrait larger than I normally do, having the perspective be up close and more detailed because I wanted the subject to look as though it is connecting with the viewer.

To make the portrait, I traced my reference photo and used layering techniques with watercolor and India ink. Once the portrait was dry and finished, I researched different symptoms of mental illness and associated them with different colors. From there, I painted streaks of these different colors in the corresponding areas of the face to show how mental illness may effect someone.

Because color is a focal point of my inquiry question, I was very intentional with the colors I chose to represent the symptoms of mental illness. For example, blue on the forehead was to represent sadness or depression. Yellow on the eye was to represent hallucinations and the altering of relationships in one's life due to mental illness. Red on the lips was to represent substance abuse, which is a common struggle for those who have mental illnesses. Lastly, green on the forehead was to represent childhood memories or trauma, which can often contribute to one's mental state as an adult.

I am very proud of this piece because it shows my technical skills, but also, I pushed my message for this piece and made the color and perspective of my piece align with my inquiry question.