This sketch was started two months ago as a portrait to celebrate her twenty-first birthday.However, my model was restless and impatient to pose for long. I coerced her into reading a magazine while she sat but even that wasn't enough. She has so much to do! And she is always in a hurry!
I almost threw the drawing away because I wasn't happy with the likeness and found too many compositional problems with the pose. Yesterday while thinking of her, I took the paper out and played with some washes and light and dark effects. Fortunately this is on very heavy watercolor paper and can take some scrubbing and mess.
Today I think I like some parts of this and even more I like how the demure pose, crossed hands, and light across the face echo some of the great Italian Renaissance art that I admire.
