[Lon Haverly]

Again, great remarks. It is a black and white. We knew this lady and young family thirty years ago. Lost track until last month, and was dreadfully shocked at her story, and at her age and condition.

She moved away twenty five years ago, her husband divorced her after getting into drugs, she had an ear infection which went into her brain and caused her to wander out of the house in a stupor and became homeless and barefoot for three months before institutionalized. Since then, she has recovered her mind, but now resides in a rest home and is old and feeble, toothless and dependent. We could not recognize any of the ballet dancer we once knew, except the sound of her voice. This is a person whom I thought was my age.

I am a bit torn with the background. I started out using the pine wood, but the yellows and grays in the pine looked awful. So I blocked it all out with a fill background. I did leave the entire chair out. The white you see below is actually pink, and is the scarf around her neck hanging down. I then thought of darkening the background even more. Don't know. The subject had daylight from the right, and reflected (I thought warmer) light from the left. Any thoughts as to what colors to try in the background?

I have redone the face with slightly softer shadows and warmer colors. Will post after working on the background.

Thanks again.

Learning.