Emotional Drawing

Backstory

Yesterday we had to draw something we owned that evoked feelings about it. I chose a Victorian Inkwell. Believe it or not we were still using inkwells when I was in elementary school (thank heavens the biro pen was introduced shortly thereafter-As a side note here is a cute story about a schoolboys first memory of his biro pen and the teacher refusing to let him use it.) I was given the job of filling and emptying them on occasion. Why I have no idea, because there was never a time I didn't have blotches and spills on my clothes, on my school work. I managed to spill ink every flipping time and the teacher was very stern and always told me off , which made me more nervous, which made me spill more ink.

Drawing
The top drawing represents how even as a child I enjoyed the freedom, blotches and smudges of the ink. The bottom drawing is what I felt the teacher wanted, perfect lines and clean.
Critique
In the class critique many felt that the fact the inkwell lying on it's side suggested vulnerability.
Not sure really why I put it on its side but, I do think it evoked exactly how I felt.
The line drawing gave a sense of what the teacher wanted but technically I needed to do a couple of things. I should NOT have filled in the nose or the eye as they are not consistent with the line drawing. Also the line around the the face should have been broken so as not to give the impression of a mask. There is a tiny break between the nose section and the face section (minor detail but important when trying to depict an image from life) and so technically I should have drawn it , BUT it has just occurred to me that a mask is appropriate.
I could not see behind the teachers mask of unrelenting sternness any smidgen of compassion or humanity.

There was some discussion as to what type of animal the inkwell was depicting, but it looks very much like a gazelle.