HI Guy,
Great piece, love the groundwork which promotes the option to take busts to new levels of creativity for both sculptor and painter. In spite of the split opinions I can see this catching on. In my opinion it gives more of a feel to the figure and his/her environment which is not easy to capture on the bust alone.
With so many top class models and renditions appearing on the competition tables it is things like this that make the model stand out from the crowd-well done for taking the plunge.
Wouldn't life be boring if we all agreed!?
Keith.