Christina in San Gimignano

I've been wanting to do a portrait of Christina for a couple years now. The past two years have been so trying economically to be an artist, I felt like I couldn't spend time on something I wasn't going to sell, and then there was getting a good shot of Christina period. I've taken many photos, but she's at the age where as soon as we started getting ready for an official photo session, she starts posing, and that's exactly what I didn't want in the painting. This painting was based on a series I took in Italy. She was engrossed in doing something, the lighting was good, I had the camera with me, and I got it in focus. Her portrait and the flower are from the photo, the background was from landscape I did from life near our villa. I changed the background several times because I found the Olive Grove as a reference. I still want to do something formal of her for my Portraits, Inc. portfolio, but his will do for now.