I've been practicing my people portrait painting this last week. I usually paint portraits of dogs, and occasionally other animals, but I would like to paint more people.

Painting my own species is difficult but I'm practicing by painting a very recognizable face: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. She has been photographed throughout her entire life, and has posed for dozens of royal portraits. I like this portrait by Christian Furr at Buckingham Palace. The Queen chose Christian herself to paint this portrait when he was only 28.

I don't have the opportunity to paint her in person but I have been experimenting with painting Queen Elizabeth using old photos.

Here's the start of my small practice painting from a younger photo of the Queen:

I haven't decided whether to add her crown and jewelry. It would make the portrait more recognizable but the plainer, candid feeling is interesting too. I'll think about this as I work on improving the likeness and adding more of the background. It's fun being able to choose the color of her dress and chair.