Lovely portrait! What did she think?

I think she's happy with it :) Thank you!

This has a lot of character! Would you mind explaining the halo?

Well, I'm in love.

It seems more like an aura than a halo to me, but I may be wrong.

Certainly some combination of things, yes.

Wow, looks a modernized Byzantium piece although yours is much more fun to look at and crisp.

Thanks, I appreciate that. Though the pieces you're referring to are incredible, in my opinion.

Neato - I would have guessed it was acrylics myself. Haven't really used gouache in a way that wasn't just to touch up/finish watercolor pieces.

You can use gouache thick enough to be opaque as acrylic.
Or thin enough to apply like watercolor.

Or some mix and match in between.

It was the commercial standard in the 60s for it's ease and quickness.
And with a little water and a clean brush, you can reactivate it to fix,
alter, or adjust what you've already done, something you can't do with
acrylics, or efficiently with oils.

Give it a try!

I'll consider that, thanks :>

Ah, reactivation, facinating...
I have been wanting to dig into them for some time now, doubly so because I've learned that.
This person also inspired me quite a bit: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kaleidoscopecat/

This is a beautiful portrait.