Thank you Allan and Mary for the warm welcome!
Allen, you're too kind. To be honest, four months ago, my drawing skills were in the range of "can place features in the correct spot". Since then, I read Harold Speed's and Chris Saper's books, did lots of homework and studied the critiques sections of this forum carefully.
I did have the advantage of being the daughter of an accomplished artist, so I learned a great deal about how to see things from my mother. The fact that she could paint a captivating likeness of a person from memory was probably one of the reasons I failed to pursue artwork at an earlier age. I always figured that if I couldn't do what she did, then I wasn't an artist.
Well, I'm over that feeling now.
I hope that I will continue to improve and that someday soon I'll be able to paint an entire person!
