This is a picture of a very bad day. I felt compelled to create, but was in such a state of gloom the only thing to do was to purge it on paper. I began with a photo with high contrast, the light source from above. I drew the portrait in with charcoal then after a few thick layers of fixative painted the colors with acrylics. I can do pretty art, but sometimes I've got to get the gloom out of the way first.