Dear Chris,
You know, I always appreciate your comments. Remember "Steve Erkle" , the geeky kid with the huge glasses? When he would mess up, he would say: " Did I do that?" and then look around himself totally perplexed.
That's how I often feel! Totally perlpexed at the glaring errors, looking around as if to say:" Hey, I know better, who touched this?!
The thing I appreciate most about portraiture is that it is very demanding. You can never let your guard down and that keeps me very humble. I once read about an artist, who was caught crying infront of his own painting. When asked what the matter was, he said something like, he can't find anything wrong. Basically he had reached the pinnacle of his artistic growth.
I guess so long as there are struggles, there is room to learn and time to find delight in every compliment given towards the hard earned, little success.