"Critique - a self-portrait"
When I was a child, my art teacher had me copy "Holbein Heads" - drawings by the great Hans Holbein, portraitist to the court of England's King Henry VIII. That was the beginning of my lifelong fascination with portraiture and my enduring respect for Holbein's genius. Even now, my teacher's voice, as she showed me the fine points of his skill, echoes in my ear: "Look for the lost and found!"

This self portrait of the artist on a coffee break, in intense concentration assessing the work in progress (values? edges? gesture? composition...?), is also my homage to Holbein, his strength of characterization and his use of color (especially in the simple rich green background). And it is nostalgic for me - a reminder of my love and gratitude for my teacher.

About the Artist

Judith B. Carducci, PSA, PSS, ASA, has been listed in Who's Who in American Art and has received international recognition for her painting and superb drawing, in portraiture, figure, still life, and plein air genres. Her work has won top honors - Best of Show, First Place, Award of Excellence, Award of Merit, Purchase Awards and People's Choice - in national and international shows. It has been featured and published in many books and art journals, world wide.

Recognized as one of America's best portraitists, she is a Founding Member, Board Member, and faculty member of the Portrait Society of America, and served for 15 years as the first and only Chair of the Society's Cecilia Beaux Forum dedicated to strengthening the role of women artists. Having herself experienced and conquered the career interruptions and late starts so often faced by women, and having taught for decades in continental America and Puerto Rico, Europe, South Africa and Australia, she is a role model and mentor to artists worldwide.

She has served as juror for national and international shows and competitions and her work is in collections in America, Europe, Israel, South Africa and Australia. She has been honored by solo, invitational, featured, and Midyear shows, and demos of the renowned Butler Institute of American Art. She has appeared on NPR's Idea Stream and in the Vitamin Water commercial with LeBron James.

Carducci studied art privately from age 6 through 17 with B.W.Plimpton in her atelier in Walpole, Massachusetts, near Boston; for three years with C.A.Brodeur in New Haven; and for three years at the University of Akron with the sculptor and painter George Danhires.

She is a Signature Member of the Portrait Society of America, the Pastel Society of America, and the Akron Society of Artists; she is a juried member of the Degas Pastel Society and the Cincinnati Art Club, an Emeritus Member of the Salmagundi Club and the Akron Society of Artists, and a member of the International Association of Pastel Societies, and of Phi Beta Kappa.

" Judy Carducci ... has become one of the most outstanding artists in the country
with her superb draftsmanship and use of color. "

—Gordon Wetmore, Chairman, Portrait Society of America
from "The Art of the Portrait," International Artist, April/May '03