Cerulean Escape
“I created this piece the weekend before my last exam of my first year of medical school. Mentally, I was no longer in Coralville mustering what little focus I still had to study for one final exam. My thoughts may have better resembled the disorganized greens and blues in the foreground than the steady blend of blue behind them. Spending many days on end in my apartment had me yearning for a vacation, you know, the kind with beautiful blue skies, crystal clear waters cresting with green sea foam, and the slightest breeze pushing my hair onto my face.
I would be naïve to say that this is just a piece denoting my longing for a vacation. As I look around my apartment now, I see the sea foam green from my Cerulean Escape is just my succulent basking on the windowsill in the afternoon sun. I notice that the pool blue in the foreground is just my IKEA pillow on which I’ve spent too many hours of quarantine napping. The blended blues in the background? The sky that I have gazed at over my laptop screen when I tired of watching lectures on 2x speed.
Nonetheless, I hope you feel, even if just for a moment, that same breeze pushing through your hair.”
—Claire Carmichael, M2
About the Creator:
Claire Carmichael is an M2 at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. She previously studied genetics and Spanish at the University of Iowa. She has taken up painting during quarantine and enjoys creating with acrylic and watercolor paints.
