The wash is so lightly applied that the grid under-drawing in blue designer pencil is clearly visible. The water functions as a mask, blinding the woman to all outward things, so deeply is she immersed in her inward thoughts and feelings. The absence of facial features makes the radiant smile all the more fascinating. There is a paradox here. If the woman is drowning, then why is she smiling and why does she seem so still and at peace? Blindness is a metaphor that Robert repeats in his “Illness and Healing” series, seeing it as a trait associated with both the passionate missteps of love and with the mysterious course of a disease like cancer.