Final exams are well underway at SDSU and our weather has turned very cold. The campus is emptying out and the remaining students are scattered about the patios, cafeterias, and libraries, mostly studying alone, seeming tired but determined to use all the time left in the semester.  I thought this string of four students along a building, each studying alone among vacant tables, conveyed that end-of-semester experience of exhaustion and persistence. I drew them with their heads all bent down and supported by a hand. The cool blues and greens suggest cold weather and isolation. I left out the shrubbery and umbrellas, thinking it would better emphasize the message of studying and persistence.

I drew with a marker and watercolor. Later at home I added in a bit of gray on the right side.