To all of you who follow this site to learn portrait painting, I try to post a hint or two when I face a certain problem myself.  I am doing a double portrait of my two youngest daughters. I have always loved the image but the photo is too blurry to print and hang it.  Recently I saw something similar at a museum in Ohio and I decided that this pose is much more interesting.  If I could just get the likenesses right it could be a beautiful painting. Here is the problem I have had.  In the image, my daughter’s face is so blurry I cannot see her features well.  I gathered all the photos I could find from those years and studied them carefully.  I made the sketches and was satisfied.  Actually, I thought they were pretty good for putting photos together.  After I got the sketch transferred and the grisaille finished I began to think something was wrong.  When a likeness is really good but you know something isn’t right, it can be very difficult to figure what the problem is.  Finally, it hit me.  It was as plain as the nose on her face, literally! I had gotten the bottom of her nose too close to her top lip.  That made her nose too long and her smile didn’t work either.  All these problems in spite of the fact that the characteristics were drawn correctly as far as likeness but just not proportional.  Later, I will post a photo.  Right now, I should go make supper.  Diana