Picture
Western State Hospital, watercolor on paper,© SGHolland 1997
Picture
Western State Hospital (detail), , watercolor on paper, ©Susan G Holland 1997


WESTERN STATE HOSPITAL



Two paintings done in the Issaquah Studio in 1997 in response to an excruciatingly  sad article about the overcrowding and distressing patient status at this institution in the state of Washington.


There was a small black and white image that I evolved this painting from, making the inmate of not discernible gender or age. It seemed to me that ANYONE in those conditions would have been this traumatized.


The top images are of a watercolor on paper,   The bottom image is a pastel study on toned paper of the same subject.  Both still haunt me as I look at them.


No on display at this time.
Picture
Pastel on toned paper, Western State Hospital, ©1997 Susan G Holland




The study at right is from preparation for a painting called Donna's Fire, something I felt impelled to do having read in the newspaper about a fire that wiped out a whole house in Seattle, on Christmas Eve.  
A small black and white photo in the Times showed this woman comforting a weeping woman who had lost everything.  The comforting woman, here in watercolor, was the picture of sadness,  and Donna, the picture of despair.  


Watercolor on board painted in the 1980's in the Issaquah Studio.

    Share your feelings on SADNESS, if you wish. Mention "SADNESS" in your comment to I.D. which section you are referring to. Thank you.

ON THE PANEL 2014  oil on panel  a portrait of a lost friend.
A larger than life head, painted from a photo...in memory of better days.