Hi Pat,
Thank you for the kind words. I should clarify that this isn't my first painted portrait - I've done four before this one for friends/family and I'm now embarassed to have them hanging in people's houses. They were done from others' photos with frontal flash, toothy grins, etc... I have learned so much just from reading the posts on this forum that I wish I could go steal them back from everyone! I used to work in graphite and charcoal until I took a beginning painting class and fell in love with the fact that I could cover up my mistakes
On a side note, I always grin when you sign your name - I also use my maiden name for anything art related, and it always confuses the people who only know me by my married name. They always look at the signatures on my paintings and ask who painted them!