Alive Inside – watercolor

These are observational paintings of skeletal bones except I used my own color schemes. This is one of my first watercolor pieces. While learning to layer colors, I discovered that mistakes were not as forgiving with watercolors. This is a self-portrait during my mental illness because with my challenges, I had been feeling dead inside. But, the vibrant colors show that even with thoughts of emptiness and hopelessness, I still had an enormous desire to express myself.

Nostalgia – Charcoal

This used to be a vibrant place where all the high school kids would congregate to hang out and chill, but then they moved on to someplace cooler. Now, it is a place where older folks gather to reminisce about their youth. This piece depicts the nostalgia that is evoked when I recall memories of my childhood friends and the pain I felt when I lost all of them in high school due to my mental illness. But, with charcoal there is always hope of changing the scenery as it is easily modifiable with a few strokes of an eraser. Now if only life can be that easily modifiable… I am experimenting with how light and shadow brings about emotions.

Lonely Christmas – Acrylic on Canvas

This is an observational drawing of our family room with an imaginative backyard. Even though this year’s Christmas was filled with extended family, giant meals, and various events, I felt blue and lonely.

Family of Superheroes – Colored Pencil, Ink, Watercolor, Pencil, Mixed Media, Photography, Collage

I made several observational drawings of a wooden doll, using all different mediums. Using cutouts of these, I made a collage depicting the incredible support my family has given me to fight through mental illness and to rise to accomplish many things, including graduating from difficult adolescent years.

Foyer – Pastel

My aunt’s family of five came to live with us from China to escape Covid and now we have ten people living in the house. Being a part of a household where shoes are not allowed in the house, our foyer is always a big mess full of shoes. Looking at the shoes, I can tell who is home and who isn’t. I know I will miss seeing so many shoes in our foyer after my aunt’s family move back to China and the number of people living in our house is reduced back to five. These are the things I was reflecting on while making an observational drawing of our foyer.