Sustained Investigation XIII

Garden of Lillies

6 in x 8 in

Watercolor & magazine clippings on bristol

For this assignment, I wanted to convey the struggle that girls or women with mental illnesses face on a daily basis. In society today, there are large stigmas and stereotypes around mental illness and women, and when combined, there are often many difficulties that come with it. As for mental illness, those stigmas include being weak, being unstable, untrustworthy, etc. Those stigmas coincide with the stereotypes put on women today, again, being weak, but also having to live up to the expectation of being physically attractive and stable. Again, I wanted to convey this struggle by painting a portrait of a girl with a serious, unamused expression, surrounded by a collage of flowers and text that relates to this topic.

Overall, I am very happy with my thirteenth sustained investigation. I challenged myself by using a new media, but also strengthened my skills with watercolor and portraiture.