Mark Twain
I’ve always loved reading the books of Mark Twain, but it wasn’t until I purchased a book of his letters that I really felt I knew the man himself. While his public writing was always colorful and entertaining, his private letters were much more biting and full of sarcastic humor—my favorite kind.
From an portraitists’ viewpoint, you can’t get a face much more interesting than his. With his wild mass of white hair, impossibly wiry eyebrows, a mustache without compare and a classically dimpled chin, you have a combination sure to be interesting visually.
I believe I captured Twain in all his crotchety, good-humored glory. The laugh lines around his eyes are much more noticeable even while his overall expression is of hawk-faced ill-temper—a very complex man, inside and out.
