#day30-found

This is a portrait which grew out of a drawing my brother Tom did a while back which he never finished.  At first I was going to add color and shading and turn it into a portrait of him (it was a self-portrait sketch).  But, as I looked at it more and more, I saw someone else in the piece, someone I’ve been looking for - for many years, actually! - because I had trouble translating what I see when I look at a dark-skinned person into a person who is alive on a piece of paper.  My Mom was a dark-skinned woman, and an accomplished artist... she kept trying to help me draw what I saw in my head but I never quite got it.  Today, I got it... at least enough to see that I can grow from here to the place I want to be with my drawing.  Really exciting stuff.  I have to thank Tom because he, the best of the four of us kids in terms of drawing, inspired me to be bolder with my darks and my highlights, to be brave with color, to keep going until I get what I want no matter how many drawings go into the trash basket. ;)