Christy, I'm so glad you started this discussion as I'm trying to do the same thing. I looked at your website and your work is beautiful. I'm not brave enough to try children as young as the ones on your site, but I've been painting teenagers from life and am going to start on a 12 year old boy this week. It's very daunting. I've tried to work totally from life, but I'm starting to suplement with photos now. The trick for me will be to retain the freshness of working from life and not to rely on the photos too much. I look forward to seeing how things go with you!
Cecelia
www.ceceliacox.com