Colours in chaos.

I drew this back in 2018 when I was taking part in the Inktober challenge. For those of you who aren’t aware of the Inktober challenge, it’s a challenge for artists, created by Jake Parker to promote and develop positive drawing habits. Every October, artists all over the world take on the Inktober drawing challenge by doing one ink drawing a day the entire month.

The word on the day I drew this was ‘Tranquil’ and I was thinking of a lot of symbolic images that would define this word. Tranquil means free from disturbance and something that brings peace or calm. We all have our own moments of peace where we go to get away from the real world. And while I was thinking this, I was wondering about what peace meant to a person living in a war-torn country or living in situations with no chance of escape. And finally this was the image that came to mind.

The word tranquil would normally immediately conjure up an image of utmost peace. So you might be wondering why I’ve drawn a war related drawing rather than something peaceful. Peace made me think about the children in war-torn countries who might never have experienced true freedom and happiness. These kids are always living in terror. In my drawing, the girl is surrounded by war and destruction. In this scenario she uses her imagination to find peace. She imagines the rubble filled streets to be a beautiful garden where she can sit and be happy. The darkness around her is muted while she is in her own world. This is her escape from her reality and she finds peace in it. My purpose for adding colour only to the area around her is to show the stark contrast between her imagination and her real life surrounding, where everything is dark, gloomy and colourless.

I want to remind the reader that situations can be worse than they are. We worry about the most trivial inconsequential things that diverts our attention from the things that truly matter. We are often blinded by media and trends, when instead we should be focusing on ways to make this world a better place. So remember to be grateful for what you have when so many people have nothing. Let’s all try to make a difference.