Linda and Alex,
Thanks so much for the encouragement! This was a really fun piece for me to attempt, but I have to admit that months of working exclusively from life has spoiled me and I found it quite difficult to pull information from the photos. Thank goodness the subject lives under my roof! I never used to believe people when they would go on about working from life, but it is absolutely true. The only advantage I see with photos now, is that their pose does not alter much.
I can't imagine getting this far with my portraits without this forum or without the studies I have concentrated on.
Thanks again!