The Five Stages of Grief Series: Acceptance

This portrait actually started in my sketchbook as a drawing assignment that I was doing with my students on how to draw the parts of the face. I drew all the features separately and then while drawing, I went ahead and finished the portrait. What was fun for me was because I really started this as an exercise rather than a serious portrait, I kept it loose, used my eraser for mark-making, and added text into the shadows. I like to write and sometimes I warm up for drawing/painting by free association writing. I went back into my writings and copied some of the text into the drawing here. I like text in artwork as I think it adds another layer to the drawing and adds hidden or mysterious meanings that are left to the viewer to interpret.