great painting and concept

quite excellent.. but WHO is that? the strange itch in the back of my head is telling me i'm supposed to know who that is...!!

You know, emagery, you're the second person to say that.. I'm not quite sure what to tell you, considering that she's made up of elements from about 4-5 different photo references, as well as my own imagination. However, after finishing the eyes and before adding the mask, while looking at it from across the room, I thought her eyes resembled Gwyneth Paltrow's a bit. Perhaps that's where the slight twinge of recognition comes in? Otherwise, I've no idea

Beautiful, simply beautiful *new favorite artwork*

Very strong way of painting, the skin-tones are marvellous.
The only thing i think you should adjust is the hair. It is simply to different from the face in a disturbing way.

lol This is great

An excellent way to convey the theme!! Well done!

it is lovely.......

Wonderful!

She looks to me like Michael Learned (the mother from the Waltons) when she was young.

Very beautiful painting..the part you chose for the thumbnail looked so much alive that I actually thought it was a picture.
Her face and above all her hand are done exquisitely. I couldn't stop staring at her hand..did you colorpick the colors from your reference?

Also love the concept behind this a lot
The only thing that is bugging me a bit is her hair. It doesn't quite live up to the detail and skill of the other parts of the picture. But it doesn't take from the fact that it is a very beautiful piece of art

spectacular rendering. i wish i could do it up like that. the only minor criticism i have is that her hair-line looks a little more cartoony than the rest of her. nevertheless +5/5

Wow!!
Those eyes are great!!
I agree the hair needs some work (the nose looks slightly twisted, but it might be because of my monitor settings) , but the rest is wonderful!

Thanks to you all for the wonderful comments! Yes, I'm still working on my hair techniques in Painter. I had previously worked only in Photoshop, up until about a month ago. I'll get it one of these days... years...

Kyena, as far as colorpicking the colors from the reference: I do it, but only to a certain extent. I've found that sometimes using an eyedropper tool will help me better grasp the tone to a person's skin. So I may grab a few colors, get a decent idea of what the tones are, and then from use that to go by, as a reference, so to speak, when I choose my colors. The colors on my paintbrush are never the exact same ones that I got from the eyedropper tool, but they -will- be similar. So, yes and no. Hope that made sense. I'm not quite sure it did.

It did! And that's a good way..since normally if you only use the eyedropper the picture doesn't look very lifelike what we see and what color actually are on a canvas are totally different.

Very Nice Job. Great Idea! +9

perfect!

The eyes.......Wow! you have a great skill for painting, no doubt about that, but I think you have surpassed yourself with the eyes they are truly amazing . As for the rest of the painting its the superbly high standard we have all come to know and love from u

The eyes are almost photo-realistic! This is a wonderful painting and very detailed...especially the background and the mask.

beautiful use of colors...

Great! love your painting style! Not too realistic and not too rushed. Perfect 7

AWESOME!
I added it to my fav's too
9+

i am amaized, why you are not in g-spot, or you are
beautiful

NICE PORTRAIT +9

hehe! i know your art from Deviant art! very awesome pic

This is amazing, fantastic details and allmost looks like a photo. I really love this one, top score

Flowjoe