Ballet inspiration

My husband and I went last night to see The Nutcracker performed by the Aspen/Santa Fe ballet. Though it's traditional and rather girlie, we both had a great time. The dancers are just amazing - the strength and control they have goes beyond impressive. The costumes were so lush. The whole thing was just a visual feast.

Watching something like that - the music and movement, the colour and grace - just makes me want to draw or paint. I came home and just sat with the cats sketching for a bit. Some of the sketches are random gesture drawings out of my brain and some are from references of ballet dancers I pulled up.

Thanks to Oude School (Flickr) for the reference for this one ^^^

A deviation from my dog challenge and pet portraits, but in the hours after the show I could totally understand why Degas and so many others have chosen to use ballet dancers for subject material over the years. Maybe next time I drag my hubby to the ballet I'll take my sketchbook along :D