(Gouache, 7” x 10”)
I decided to paint specifically a scene on 458, although the art could fit as an overarching piece, and elements from the rest of the story are incorporated in this:
“Honey, said Mom, You Won’t Let Me Get To Know You, Ronnie, Don’t You Love Me? Don’t You Like The Food I Make For You? Don’t You Miss Your Mother?
Ronnie shook her head.
Ronnie, I Am Going To Knock First—”
In my artistic interpretation of this story, I painted two figures, one of them red and the other blue. The blue one represents Ronnie, and the red Mom. Ronnie is looking down, appearing more solemn and sad. Mom is looking up at her, while reaching her hand out. This depicts Mom attempting to connect with Ronnie. When I was creating this, I didn’t have a picture in mind of what Ronnie nor Mom looked like, so their features are more vague. I decided to keep Mom even more vague and gave her loosely-defined features since that’s how I visualize her. Along with that, I also thought of the girls seeing her differently, as Mom was based on the girls’ perceptions on what a good parent should be and Mom would manifest differently for each of them.
The colors were intentionally chosen for this. I limited my palette to blue, red, black, and white, which are the same colors on the Korean flag. I chose blue for my depiction for Ronnie since blue is a versatile color. It can represent calmness, sadness, and aloofness, which I thought matched well with Ronnie’s character. Throughout the story, I thought of her as a calmer character, especially when compared with Mini and Caroline. Additionally, her distant and aloof nature is amplified with the presence of Mom. Her friends know little to nothing of her family and home life, and she refuses to let Mom in. I also left most of her face to be white, as white also has connotations with isolation. It is also commonly known to represent purity and innocence, which seems like it would contrast with Ronnie’s character but I will expand on that.
Mom is painted red. Red is a color which especially has lots of meanings to it (both positive and negative), but I view it as a strong and passionate color. It can mean love, danger, aggression, and even be a color that promotes persuasion. All of these combine to make my portrayal of Mom. To Mini and Caroline, the red would mostly be tied with love, while for Ronnie, it would be the other meanings.
When you look at the two figures interacting in my painting, the hand that reaches out to Ronnie’s face leaves behind trails of red. It is especially prevalent on the white parts of Ronnie’s face, showing a clearer effect of Mom on Ronnie—that she is tainting her. This also alludes to the ending of the story, where Ronnie and Mom merge together: “Who are we? We are Ronnie and someone standing behind her, with hands on my shoulders, a voice in her ear, and sometimes we are someone standing inside her, with feet in her shoes, moving her around” (459). This is further emphasized at the middle of the painting. Neither of Ronnie or Mom’s bodies are defined, but they rather fade into each other, creating a purple (which is what red and blue mix to). It shows the process of Ronnie and Mom becoming one.
