Thank you all very much for your replies! I'm so glad that Georgia's sweetness and softness came through. Her sister Parker is very bubbly and striking, while Georgia is an extremely sweet, pretty little girl who is more reserved. Georgia has an angelic demeanor and I wanted to reflect that.
Julie, unfortunately having small kids sit for a painting is like trying to catch smoke. I took a lot of pictures of Georgia and wound up merging 2 pics in Photoshop. When I was with her I took notes about the colors in her skin and the value. I also make it a point to watch a child's facial expressions, body language, and reactions and write everything down after I get home. I would love to be able to paint children from life but I think I would wind up doing a lot of paintings of kids playing video games and watching tv--that's the only time they sit still!
Alexandra, thank you for the complement about the composition. I wrestled with that decision and wasted an expensive canvas.
thank you all again!
Renee