three weeks on a big oil, my sister's face, and the mouth is perfect. corners up the right amount, teeth not too many, the whole thing reads as happy.

and it's the most dead thing I've ever painted.

I sat with it tonight and figured out what I did wrong. I painted her smiling AT me. Like a photograph. I drew the shape of the smile instead of the thing that makes someone smile, the little tension under the eye, the cheek pushing up, the fact that a real smile makes the whole face work.

instead I've got lovely lips sitting in a flat face like a sticker.

the rest of the piece is good enough that I can't just scrap it, which is worse. now I've got to go back in and destroy the one part I got "right". the idea of cutting into it makes my stomach flip honestly.

anyone else ever paint something correctly and hate it for that exact reason