Painting Taylor's Portrait

I'm a painter at heart. My first passion has been to paint and I am willing to paint on almost any surface. I have been painting since all my life. My mother is an artist and she encouraged us at a very young age to be creative and use our talents. Painting has been one of those talents I wasn't using for many years.

Things are changing in my studio. I moved my etsy inventory into a smaller room and decided to make the studio into a real artist working space. And then I primed a bunch of canvases, ready for creating! I'd already painted my great nephews portrait a few weeks ago and wanted to do more. Taylor's portrait would be next.

I have this black and white grainy image to work with. I like the pose and I wanted the challenge of painting a side portrait. So, this is it. This is the image I used.

First, I sketched the outlines and contours of her face. If I messed this up, the painting would look like someone elses most adorable little girl... not Taylor. stressed! But happy at the same time.

And then I outlined the image with sienna, just to get a good feel for her facial porportions. I'm a beginner portrait artist... and honestly.. I love the tones in this and the simple unfinished look. I was ready to call it finished!

add color! Aghhh... I am so nervous at this point.

And then I keep painting and start to hate what I have done. I can see I lost the features of Taylor's face. Her nose is in the wrong place, her cheek is all wrong, this doesn't look like Taylor! Back to the drawing board!

and there ya go! That's sooo much better!

I'm pretty happy with this. There's a few things I would change, her eyes need some shadowing on the upper lids, and maybe a little shading on her cheeks but over all I think this is good for a #2 child's portrait.
Next!?