Re-painting Madeleine

When I first decided to create a portrait of Madeleine to enter into the Doug Moran I pretty much had no idea what I was doing. We built the frame after watching a youtube video and then I drew the picture on the canvas in pencil and away I went. The art school I was attending closed down before I could start the oil painting class so I was going by what I remembered and heard and could figure out. I made tons of mistakes but in the end I thought I had a nice portrait. The judges rejected my portrait and I was disapointed at first, but I didn't want to think about 'failing' so I kept thinking about how much fun it would be  anyway, and how nice its going to be when I have a portrait of Madeleine hanging in the Tweed River art gallery. Madeleine was born in the Tweed River and I really wanted her painting to be hung in the gallery there. Not to mention the Doug Moran portrait competition holds the highest dollar value for any portrait prize in the world (150 thousand) and I was up against the best artists in Australia. 700 people enter every year and only 30 are selected. I decided it didn't matter what the 'truth' was (she wasn't accepted) and kept imagining how good it would be to see her chosen.
One day it occured to me I could improve the painting and enter it in 2011.
So out came the paint and now I had a little more knowledge cause I started art classes at Atellier. 
It was tough to paint over a painting I'd spent months on allready, but I decided to be bold and brave and  just do it. I repainted the face arms, curtains, wall and added a teddy bear. The colours Nick showed me were SO much better than the scheme I'd been using and the portrait came out much better. After another 50 hours she was ready to enter again.  She leaves in 6 days to go before the judges. Hoping to be accepted this year, and if I'm not, there's always next year.