Which Portrait Do You Like Best?

This semester I’ve been taking a class at the Worcester Art Museum called “Portrait I & II” which is taught by Ella Delyanis. (She does wonderful pastels – see her work at www.artanagallery.com)

She suggested that each student choose a piece to frame and submit to the Adult Student Exhibition which will hang in the Education Wing of the Museum from Dec. 9, 2008 to January 23, 2009..

I can’t decide between two portraits I’ve done in the class – one of a model named Brenda and one of a model named Paul. The one of Brenda was a longer pose – about an hour – and the one of Paul was much shorter, but I kind of like the fact that it’s looser and more unfinished.

I’d love your input on which of these two portraits to submit.

I’m also posting a photo of Brenda posing with an earlier portrait of her that I did in the class.. When the class was over she took out her own camera and snapped a photo of the drawing, which made me happy because it meant she liked the portrait. So I asked her to pose with the drawing for my camera.

It’s not easy posing – the models have to hold the pose and stay very still for so long and it takes good muscle control, especially in contorted poses for figure drawing. The Worcester Art Museum has some very professional models.