Ava gardner wip

Hello, I am painting Ava Gardner for David. (he wanted this wip so badly, later it will go to scraps, no need to fave but please full view)

Now here is a project that I had been afraid of, mortally terrified because I am not good at likenesses and was afraid to paint in B&W. When I desaturize my colored paintings they look flat and unnatural so I was afraid of B&W. But painting in B&W is quite different, quite a kick and I love it, I may end up with painting in B&W for the rest of my life lol.
This is painted from scratch but in the beginning I kept her face in low opacity close at hand in a layer to put over her to check if I did well, so the differences to the original are there but not so much that it is ava no longer.

My example for painting in B&W is the amazing Carlos , thanks Carlos, for me you are the B&W digital painter master, I hop over to your work all the time to see how you got your effects

4 hours on the face already and I think it looks very realitic so I added the reference too to show the differences because I am mortally afraid of AnnaKirsten lol (not true sweet Anna)

Ava will be painted to her gorgeous high heels but I took a reference pose that is modern, that way we all can relate to the painting, I did not want this to be too vintage, her face is not vintage but timeless in its utter beauty and perfection

Thanks David for choosing such a great subject matter, I am forever in your depth for challenging me