Have eventually finished this portrait after an interesting week in art. I borrowed a book from the library by John Raynes and it has had me glued for days. He has a wonderful talent and is able to represent his portraits in all forms of medium. I particularly like his coloured pencil drawings which then spurred me to try some. I have been scribbling away in my sketch book. I can tell that I have progressed well because older portraits in coloured pencil are really rubbish but this time they were a lot better. I decided to complete this one and once I was back to blending and dabbing with the oil pastel I felt more in control. He says that you should always begin with a medium that enables you to make corrections. Coloured pencil doesn't really and neither does watercolour or watercolour pencils. This portrait was tricky because her head was tilted to the side and I don't think I managed well to retain the symmetry. The eyes were really alot more smiley, but there is something so lovely about the eyes that I didn't want to change them or fiddle around with them.