Dear Tim,
I think that the more that I think about this, then the more that I think something like the picture below is an illustration, even though it is painted from life. And therefore it's not really the fine art of portraiture that we all strive to attain. I think we all understand that getting a real likeness for our clients usually means traditional realistic paintings.
This was painted from life several years ago when I first started painting portraits in oils, so it's pretty bad. Rather crudely done. But I'm not going to fix it, it was a learning experience. I see a lot wrong with it now.
Thanks for all the input from all of you wonderful artists. I really enjoyed your information.