Pat, I am not sure whether or not you shared all your photos from your shoot or only the ones that YOU know would make effective paintings. Control what you can control. If you shared everything you shot, then, that is not a good idea. I often live by the saying that "If you don't want to hear the answer to a question, then don't ask the question." In other words, give your clients ONLY the photos that you know will make excellent paintings. They don't have the experience nor expertise that you have, so they see things in photos that they like but won't work in a painting.
Hope this helps. I speak from a 30 year experience as a teacher of children and frankly, there isn't a difference between how we present ourselves to adults and how things appear to those who don't have the knowledge we have.
