Britney

I really appreciated all your kind words and the pushes to continue what I started here. And after all the encouragement, you knew I would have to draw something. Britney was it.

My daughter in-law's birthday is less than a month away.So I got busy with a get acquainted charcoal sketch of her oldest daughter. I got a close likeness, but didn't smoke any cigars. I'm not crazy about her hair or the position of her shoulders. Hunched up, they look huge. They look like it's the seventies when we all wore what amounted to football pads to show the strength of WOMEN POWER. They've got to go into history where they belong. If the background is blackish, then the shoulders can stay where they are as they are and I don't have to worry about correcting the neck. The dark background will obscure the size. Let the hair, skin and those fabulously mischievous eyes be the focus.

Her smirk is going to be a challenge too. Whatever happened to colored lipstick? It gives lips a definite shape. --I think that this rush project is what sent me over the edge. This portrait was not on my agenda--not that I'm not flexible (as stainless steal) you understand.

I don't really know Britney or why she doesn't wear lipstick. I've only met her a very few times and the room was crowded so no intimate chat developed. I do know that she's an excellent cook and a talented photographer. Instead of pursuing one of these abilities as a career, however, she's working at Jo Ann Fabrics part time without benefits or hope for benefits. Just in her early twenties, the waste of her talent and college opportunity is annoying, (painfully reminiscent, actually). Culinary School or an apprenticeship to a photographer is what she should be doing.Economic independence should be her goal.

--I have to be very careful these feelings don't show in this drawing. And really, it's just a portrait after all. What is it my business what she does with her life?
I'm her step grandmother.

Well now. Apparently I think that portraits painted by a family member by request can rake up a lot of personal crip that may affect the success of the piece? Maybe it's best to paint strangers?