Life Drawing with Martha Voyevidka and Some Portrait Studies

Professor Peter Higgs - oil on masonite 8x10

Marie Curie - oil on canvas 8x8

Dr. Francis Crick - oil on canvas 14x11

Ballerinas have been giving me some trouble lately so I am taking a break for a while. And so I busied myself by doing a a few quick portrait studies of prize winning physicists - just for fun! Professor Peter Higgs is a British scientist known for developing a theory that gravity is carried by a subatomic particle - and the CERN reactor experiments are now geared toward trying to find this particle to prove him right. As you may have suspected, I am fascinated by this! The portrait of Marie Curie and was done from a small black and white photo. I really don't think her hair was red but it very definitely is in my portrait. She was the first woman to win a Noble Prize and the only woman to have won 2 Nobel Prizes in 2 different categories - physics and chemistry. And last is Nobel Prize winner Dr. Francis Crick one of the scientists to discover the famous double helix structure of DNA. I actually had the honor of working with Dr. Crick for a short time several years ago when he was in his 80's and still working at the Salk Institute in San Diego.

I have also been attending Thursday morning life drawing sessions. The following 3 selections are all ebony on newsprint, about 40 minutes each. I am most pleased with the final reclining piece. Looking at them here makes me aware that I need to work on shading and values.

Thank you all for taking a look! :)

Ballerina #17 - and Another

This past week I have been experimenting with incorporating male dancers into my series - not very successfully. This one is the only one that has survived so far. I do like how he is using both hands to point to himself. Your comments and thoughts are all very much appreciated.