Go get a pad of "canvas paper", tear-off sheets of canvas look-alike, feel-alike surface. I think Canson makes one of these pads. Stick it to your drawing board with thumbtacks, all different colors, preferably one of them rusty. Or use masking tape, a dob each corner, or off-level stripes top and bottom. Now get something like Paul Leveille's
"Painting Expressive Portraits in Oil", and just spend a series of short sessions copying his examples of noses, then mouths, then eyes. Take extreme close-up photos of tolerant relatives for the same effects. Paint those so that, from the very ear or eye, someone else might say, Hey, That's Helen!!
Don't try to do a masterpiece. Try to do a piece, as masterfully as you know how. From what you learn this time round, your next one will be more accomplished, and so on. And much sooner than you think, you can go for the big finish. One of the big secrets of painting is that it's not as hard as it looks. Another is that it's not as easy as it looks, either, so don't skip the calisthentics on the way to the Olympics.
Best luck,
Steven