Many looks...capturing one look out of many...Jessica

Jessica   Charcoal/Watercolor   14 x 10

After years of sketching and contemplating the human visage, I have come to realize that there is no one "image" that captures an individual.  Consider, for a moment, the variety of faces that greet you each morning as you look in your above-the-sink-mirror................some of them are pretty scary.  Right?  Over the years, I have had the opportunity to draw and paint various models several times each.  And each time I feel that I have a grasp on a bit of truth.  It takes years and years of contemplating family members in order to completely understand that brow bone, that nose bump, that one-sided smile.  And so I have ceased to be disappointed in that notion of likeness-perfection that can only exist in a split second.  I have painted Jessica four times in the past several months....each one is different.  This particular drawing has perhaps less of a likeness than the other attempts.  Yet, I like it.  Charcoal on 90# hot press watercolor paper.  The background was washed in at home.  Experimentation.  Excitement.  A bit of truth.  Mine or hers?