"You paint a pessimistic picture," said the general.

"Given what we've seen in the last two months, it's an absolutely pessimistic picture," Mr. Niemira said.

Now that she has been convicted and sentenced, some observers are painting a pessimistic picture of Ms. Ryder's career.

Essentially, the medical approach has painted a pessimistic picture.

Income and wealth inequality measures, taken alone, provide a misleadingly pessimistic picture.

Conversely, the Nasdaq composite often paints a far too pessimistic picture when the dominant stocks perform poorly, as was seen over the past month.

Brian Adair paints a pessimistic picture of the new regime.

But plenty of museum directors don't see it that way, and their tax experts and legal experts tend to paint a pessimistic picture.

There are, to be sure, important caveats to this pessimistic picture.

Many forward-looking indicators are drawing a more pessimistic picture of economic activity.