I started out this drawing three days back. I wanted to draw my grandmother, Thea. Reference is a photo from the 1920ies. It got late and I decided to go sleep, before the drawing was done. Next day I spent staring at that unfinished drawing. Something about it bothered me, but I could not pinpoint what it was.
Today I started out staring at it again, trying to figure out what to do about it. I ended up realizing her expression is quite like Mona Lisa’s. Is she smiling or is she sad? Smiles are hard to get right. But I learnt, that this expression is even harder to capture! Well done Leonardo!
In the end I decided to start over. That was probably a good idea. I feel much better about this version. She is still smiling a bit too much on my drawing compared to the photo. Some day I’d like to try draw this portrait again. There is something enigmatic and so very interesting about trying to capture the smile that’s not quite there, but not quite absent 🙂
