Last Tuesday my art teacher gave me a homework:  find a painting, print it out, cut out a small part of it, paste it in the sketchbook and finish the rest of the painting inside it.

After much considerations, I settled on my idol's masterpiece, Leonardo Da Vinci's prominent Mona Lisa.

Between this painting and me, I tried drawing her and I've to say, she is a real TOUGH nut to crack!

If I draw Mona Lisa for my art homework, it will be my third attempt.

Mona Lisa Mission No.1

My first try was on my own, so I met obstacles which soon defeated me and that first try turned out to be a DISASTER! Drawing her was not as easy as I thought!

I did it with colour pencils, but it was real tough because I had to take into consideration of the toner values, capture the souls, emotions and expressions of the painting and also what the artist is trying to tell us.

The toughest part which I encountered is obviously the eyes. It is tough putting in the souls and emotions and the message of the eyes is what that makes the eyes so captivating.

So to achieve this, great skill, patience and effort are needed.

But with the eraser and pencil, I kept erasing and correcting, erasing and correcting, again and again. Until the paper was about to tear and I finally gave up. That was the end of my first attempt and it was also a failure!

Mona Lisa Mission No.1 Impossible

Mona Lisa Mission No.2

My second encounter, I could say, "hmm, not bad, quite a success"

This was my second try with the demure lady.

This time, I did it with pencils and try to draw a simple sketch of her face and hair. Also, with a little advice and guidance from my teacher beside me while drawing the picture, and finally after two lessons, I was proud to announce that I had completed my first version of Mona Lisa! 

This time, it was not the eyes that beat me; the lips and the little cheeks were hard to draw. That part of the face is also quite important as it brings out the mysterious smile of Mona Lisa.

I showed my drawing to my family and they were impressed. But I am sure there are still many rooms for improvement. So I guess meanwhile........

Mona Lisa Mission No.2 Possible!

Through that "drawing period", I experienced countless obstacles and it was really quite tedious.

But I finally got the feeling about the hard time that the renaissance Master Leonardo Da Vinci had, in fact, I am sure he endured more than I did.

All the brushstrokes he had painted on the poplar panel really portrayed the message he was trying to tell the audience => soul of Mona Lisa and also her emotions!