Alistair, most of us don't usually put images of our significant others on here in PSlover.com, but I commend you! he he he...j/k
Nicely done!I like the chalk feel of it too,...looks convincing that it could actually be a photo of a chalk drawing...
I used the auto painting mode to clone an underpainting with a chalk drawing colour scheme, once I had the basic colours down I used some of the real bristle brushes in Painter X to paint in the detail using the photo for reference.
