Julia, sometimes I work from several photos for different parts of the body, so I pick the one that's closest to my end desires and have that one blown up in black and white. Then I take it home and cover it with color photos that I print myself. I use the black and white copy as a form to follow in keeping things the correct size. This way I can put a different head or hands on the main photo.

Kinko's will blow color photos up to large sizes, but it's a bit on the spendy side because they're thinking permanent and I'm thinking temporary. Last time I went I enlarged photos for three paintings in black and white and it was less than $20. (This was not even for life size, I think they're all around 24 x36.) At that time I priced printing them in color and it would have been around $250 if I remember right. I just can't see spending that kind of money on something I'm going to throw away. Hope this helps.

All that said, painting from life is the best practice anyone can get.

Debra,
I finally found your post on the second page! :D

Once again, very helpful stuff. I didn't realize there was such a difference in price between color and b&w. Thanks!

Julia