Because of the pandemic, life had turned monotonous—tedious, even. People’s once distinct and unique faces now became a sea of blue masks and though life gradually began to bustle again, it was flat; it didn’t hold the same layers of vitality as before. I remembered the time when I was on the bus in downtown Pittsburgh and I was particularly haunted by the blank, bleak, and despaired stares of those around me. There was no glow: because there simply couldn’t be. Though we were all standing, squished against each other, minding our own business, continuing on with our lives, we remained so disconnected from one another—separated by the masks, separated by the silence, and separated by the monotony. Perhaps we were trying to continue on with our lives linearly in the wake of the pandemic, but the effects were too evident. In that moment, I felt the palpable emotions of desperate hope, uncertainty, and loss and I wanted to capture that moment in time as a representation of the state of society and the world in the face of disaster. 

The painting is largely depicted in shades of cold blue to represent the singular tone of life while the background is painted in warmer colors in order to signify the air of hope for a better future. The figures were painted using brushes while the details (scarf, mask, hair) on the main figure (girl) in the middle was painted using a palette knife. The use of this method was to create texture, draw attention to detail, and create emphasis on the clear lines in color and the variation of the montonoy of blue. The hair of the male figure on the right was also painted using a palette knife.