Carol

Getting better, James! Watch the size of the eyes, the false eyelashes and mascara tend to exaggerate them (I had a hell of a battle with a subject who applied more paint to her face than I was applying to the canvas: and then she suddenly dropped dead, rendering a good deal of work a little pointless...). Like the hair, mouth, the touches of colour indicating the neck and supporting structures; I think you see a little more of the nostrils than you actually would see in a face-on portrait; again, I think the slightly exaggerated size of the eyes has misled you a little in relation to the length of the nose. But - portraits ain't easy! And I think you've demonstrated a lot of progress in this. Portraiture has got to be the most difficult art of the lot - you need to get the proportions of the features right in relation to each other: so the base of the ears will be more or less (though never exactly) in line with the base of the nose, for instance. See if you can get hold of a copy of "The Fundamentals of Drawing Portraits", by Barrington Barber, published by Capella.

Hi Robert! Thanks for your interesting comment! Yes the eyes were even bigger before I put her make-up on! I think I'm getting the hang of proportions and have been quite excited about the things I am learning at the moment, It's all very slow but it wouldn't be any fun any other way would it? I have some books (BB seems to ring a bell) At one time I used to thinks the more books I buy will make me a genius (computing) I now lnow that it's just down to hard graft!

Very attractive portrait James. Lovely colour, the hair and her skin are especially well done. Nice to see your work again. Not sure how you spell this name but she looks like Vorderman.?

I love you Louise - Yes it was meant to be CV! xx

Good image James, great hair...I was going to say Vorderman, but I guess it's better that you love Louise Robert's a good teacher James he learned me a lot...But doing battle with your subject before getting your cheque is not one of his best ideas :-)

Your portraits have a very spontaneous feel about them, James, and somehow, I also sense, a touch of humor. This one is no exception - as Louise says, it's very attractive.

Thanks also Robbin & Seok for your comments - I've no women queuing up so it may be a flower next?

Nice one James, yes Carol has big eyes and you have captured her lovely cheekbones.

Thanks Carol - Yes she's very attractive to sum everything up.