Different Strokes Portrait Challenge

This was the mystery artist that I was to paint as part of the DSDF year end challenge. Those who wanted to participate sent in a photo of themselves, and in return, you received one in which to paint. A swap. It turns out that my mystery artist is:   Rajalekshmy Usha.  Her portrait of me is on her blog.

 This is the first portrait I have done as I am new to art and painting,  and struggled with the assignment.  I tried 3 other times and was very frustrated at the results even this final version.  It wasn't for lack of trying!   Only by trying new things will I improve.  I learned a lot from the exercise, one being that portraits are very difficult to paint.  It is easy for the features to get away from you,  but I loved the challenge and the portraits that were submitted were fantastic.  Be sure to take a look