Bleeding Smile

This is the name of the art I drew not long ago for my History of Art report. We're required to draw a picture based on an art movement we like. So I drew something that is of Symbolism art movement.

Here's the piece of art. Although I don't find it nice...

Bleeding Smile.

Here's what I wrote for the report:

"This is a drawing I made using Symbolism art movement and colourpencil, which is a form of dry media. The drawing is of a girl with bleeding black wings smiling towards to viewer. The title of this drawing is “Bleeding Smile”.

When you see a child, the first thing you’ll think of a child is being innocent. At this young age, they don’t know much about the world and they don’t know how to protect themselves. They always stay happy even when something bad is going on. Even when a child was beaten by the parents for misbehaving, he or she will continue being happy after some time as they won’t think about their mistake or the reason he or she was beaten by the parents.

To add on the innocence of a child, I have added a smile to the girl on the drawing. No one will ever suspect a child for being upset or up to something bad when they are smiling. When a girl smiles, it shows how sweet she can be and being cheerful all the time. Thus, nobody will question a child if he or she has any problems.

White wings on a human body remind us of angels. Angels are symbolized as good, pure and innocent. But in my drawing I’ve coloured it black. Black colour is normally related to evil, darkness or something negative. Furthermore, I’ve added dripping blood on the wings of the girl. This obviously shows that the girl is hurt, either physically or mentally. The black wings are to show that the girl is not pure anymore. She might have been ‘polluted’ or have been in time where she suffered an attack or been in a terrible situation before.

I purposely dressed the girl up in black to show that we should not judge a book by its cover. As explained earlier, a child, when smiling shows that he or she is happy and innocent. Even with black clothing, doesn’t mean a child is seen as a negative thing or having problems. It can simply mean the style of the child’s fashion.

Overall, the drawing is about a girl being abused but acted happy so that nobody would know about her sufferings and sadness. No one would suspect that she was hurt before and would not know what situation she had undergone. She just keeps everything to herself, not wanting anyone to worry about her. This shows that a girl can be tough and strong at times although she’s feeling hurt.

The message I wanted to convey in this drawing is to stop child abuse, whether it’s mentally or physically. Always concern and ask about a child if he or she is feeling alright or having problems although they might be smiling or being happy at that time. Children are fragile if compared to an adult. This is why we must protect them from being harmed otherwise their future will be ruined. "

It's just what I thought of at the moment while drawing this art. You guys can disagree with what I said in my report. And I was feeling a little sad at that time so it's what I could think of... Something sad and depressing.