My Best Friend, Marg.

Although I like your landscapes I think portraiture is your forte. With the lovely skin tones and natural smile you make it look so easy and I know it definitely is not.

A lovey painting, Thea. As Val said, you make it so easy when we know it is definitely not!

Thea, your portraits are so good, even though you have not done many of them yet. All of your work is indeed very good. Your kind comments are also very encouaging to me in pursuing my work.

Lovely , you seem to have caught her expression well, I'm sure Marg would be happy with it.

What a happy portrait. Lovely tones and brush marks.

What a happy lady, I expect she is delighted with this. Its terrfiic. Have you ever thought of photographing your paintings instead of scanning them? They are easier to manage & manipulate, in my humble opinion. But as most of my stuff is much bigger than A 4 I have got used to doing it this way . I think you should continue with your portraits.

Thea, this is wonderful! Marg must be delighted. You really do seem to have found your forte in this field and I agree with Sylvia - try photographing your work and then putting it onto the computer. I would hate to think we are missing some of the colours. Well done!

Thank you all so much for positive and complimentary feedback. Marg doesn't actually know that I have painted her portrait as I did it from a photo I took last year. I am not sure I dare show her! Although I am a beginner at the subject, I love doing portraits and it is so exciting when you get to that point in the painting process when the person suddenly comes to life and is the person you recognise. Sylvia and Julia, I have tried photographing my paintings, but either the colour balance on my camera is not set up right, or it is the light that I take the photos in, as I can never seem to get the paintings to not have a blue tinge to them. I have even used Rogers super-duper camera, but can't seem to get it right. A decent scanner might help as mine is quite old and outdated. Thank you for your suggestion though - I will have another go.

Go and show it to her Thea! Your portrait is lovely.

Thea, you really have developed a style all your own, and it is so lovely and delightful....this is full of charm and life, your friend will love it!

PS; Thea...Try photographing outdoors, in not too bright conditions, it may help to get you the true colours......just a thought.

A beautiful portrait, bet your friend is over the moon with this.

Great portrait. I agree with other comments about taking a photograph and then you can adjust the light in Adobe or Roxio (other programmes available!)

Thank you all for your lovely comments and help with the copying problem. Fred, I use Photoshop Elements, which is quite a sophisticated tool. Perhaps I am just not very good at using it - must try harder!

I love your portraits. They have an almost ethereal quality and the gentle colours are lovely. Thank you very much for your coments on my paintings,