Final Blog: Mock Interview session

So this assignment at first came to be somewhat stressful since it seemed hard for me to find someone available to do a 30-45 minute session. Luckily, a cousin of mine decided to participate, mainly because she loves art and enjoys to draw and paint as a hobby. I invited her over to my place, and assured she knowingly knew what the assignment was about and what to expect. She was excited and anticipated in using her artistic ability again. 

When I provided her the art supplies I had at home and from class she seemed very enthusiastic about what she saw on the table. I was glad she was familiar with the art material since this made the process of explaining the materials easier for me. 

Once she decided what materials to use I was wondering why she  picked an old sketchbook of mine and different shades of sketching pencils, rather than the other materials available. When I brought up the question my cousin stated she wanted something simple and quick to do in order to talk about it. She also stated she didn’t want for it to be complicated with the assignment because then she would then get too detailed and would take her much longer to complete. I continued to go with what she felt comfortable with doing. I then decided to incorporate the ideas brought in class where I informed her to either tell a story, ventilate, show a mirror of self or self portrait, or to simply meditate. 

My cousin sketched for about 15-20 minutes a very detailed and impressive drawing of what she felt like when she was living on her own in Miami, FL, sometime last year. She indicated that the 8 months of her living in a state where she knew no one and where she felt very alone, became overwhelming for her. I questioned if this was a picture of herself and how she saw the world around her at the time. She stated she felt unable to be understood from family, including me during her times of feeling alone and unable to connect with others. She claimed that her frustration grew higher when she had to figure out how to come up with rent money and the long hours she worked at a nearby restaurant where she made about $30-50 a day. I continued to explore her thoughts and ideas of the picture and she continued to implicate her feelings of loneliness and how it saddened her, but she also took the effort to maintain a strong equilibrium in attempting to be happy. At some point she stated “I cried everyday when I was there, nobody knows, but I did”. As I continued to understand her story I began to really understand her portrait and began to see parts of her in the drawing making sense. 

Besides the drawing having no live trees blooming and a girl with messy hair, a light dress and a Mona Lisa smile I also noticed the girl holding a bottle, which I questioned my cousin about. When I brought the question up she stated that the bottle was a wine bottle and her coping bottle because this was the way she was able to handle her loneliness and sadness. As a replacement from taking medication to be able to sleep she preferred to drink something that was easily accessible (which was provided in the restaurant she was working in at the time). Drinking wine was a way for her to relieve the pain and hurt she felt of being alone and independent for the first time. 

I then questioned how she feels now that she is near her family and friends. She indicated she is much happier and in tuned with her feelings. As she continued to explain her thoughts I questioned how would the drawing be different if she represented herself now. She informed me she would ensure the trees would be full of life and the girl would have straight hair and better clothes on. The bottle she indicated would not be part of the drawing because it is no longer a part of who she is anymore or her life. I praised her for this and ended the session shortly after.

                         

                           

The End.