Still not done, but getting closer. Grandkids here now till late tomorrow. Hope to finish this painting sometime over the weekend. I can see lots of areas I need to work on. But I am new at portrait painting so any progress is good, lol.
Twins in bed now. McCoy is only one up and he and I are getting ready to watch a movie. Hubby is already snoozing, lol.
Giulia ~
Its all on the same canvas. I always start with a rough sketch on a primed canvas and then begin adding paint. The pencil helps me see where I am going. The only thing I didn't show was the gridding I use to get proportions right. I erase it before I start to paint. This photograph I had of you I got from your homepage on Ex. I had it developed but it was a little on blurry side, so was sorta hard to see good definition. So anyway everything you see s the transformation of the painting from beginning to end
I just take pictures as I change it and paint. I decide I like or dont like something and paint over it as I did the backgrounds as well and the shirt color. I will go check out that necklace now. Next time I post the painting it will be last one. I find taking pictures as I paint also helps me see my mistakes and improvements 
When it is complete I will mail it to you
Thank you my dear, you're also on my paint list
Here's the original photo if that helps any.
I don't know how you can just give away your art like that, but I'd be more than ecstatic to accept it.
Giving it away is the best part in creating art for me
Thank you for the compliment
Thanks Posamari , my secret weapon is gridding. Seriously. I learned it in HS Art Class and I had a fantastic teacher, I otherwise really have no other formal training.
Gridding is so easy. Just make a grid over the picture that you want to draw/paint and make the same grid on your paper/canvas. go by each square. Its sorta like looking at a puzzle and fitting the pieces together. But for me , it helps me with proportions more than anything. I grid in pencil then erase the grid lines or paint over them. A few times practice and you will be off to the races! Give it a whirl, its sorta fun Once you have done a few it gets easier and easier.
Horses are my favorite thing to paint, next to dogs and I also studied their anatomy and photos and the values ( lights and dark shades ) at great length when I started doing them. We had horses so I took many pics of them doing different things, standing and such, great practice and a live model to boot
