My Beloved. Completed.

This is my beloved dog, Dixie.  This took about 2 months to complete working intermittently.  It's painted completely in Adobe Photoshop.  You can see where I started at the bottom drawing with my mouse and then I got a graphics tablet for a Christmas present and you can see the difference in the rest of the painting. At the end, I also added a warming filter since I thought her coloring was just too bright.

I plan on getting this printed poster size and having it framed for my home.  She was such a beautiful and loving dog.  She was my companion for 12 wonderful years.

Golden Earrings Version 3

Newest version of Golden Earrings! CLICK on image to enlarge.

Hi Dad,
Did more work on mom today.  Fixed her lips, got rid of some more noise and scratches and tried to soften the shadows on her neck and face so she didn't look like she was smeared in mud. (grin) I hope I understood you right yesterday when you told me that the right side of the background was orange-ish.   I tried to mail it to you, but it bounced back.  I guess the file was too big.  So, I uploaded it to my art blog for you to look at.
Love you so very much!

Photo Restoration Project - Golden Earrings

CLICK on photo to enlarge. Working on a photo restoration for my dad. This is a picture of my mom taken in 1948 entitled "Golden Earrings." Any comments, critiques, suggestions welcome. I'm just trying to restore it, I don't want to repaint it if possible. Mostly using layer masks and when I first started, I used the color balance tool to take out all the sepia and get down to the remaining color that was left. I redrew her eyes from scratch and I also drew in the earrings and used a layer opacity on them. I've also been using the spot healing tool to remove all the scratches and marks. The right side of her face looks like she's smeared with dirt though. I need to clean that up somehow. The shadow just isn't quite right. Comments? Suggestions? Critiques?