[Chris Saper]

Dear Mary,

My congratulations to you, too!

I think you should really do a number of trials with your own baby before committing to the body part client. There are things that we will accept in a photo that aren't always accepted in a painting.

I think it is almost impossible to depict a greatly foreshortened hand (or foot, or anything) unless you have a great deal of practice from life (you can do this with your husband in the evening) because the camera both flattens foreshortened forms, as well as distorts their perspective, at least in most situations. It's difficult enough with an adult, but the tiny scale and soft, indisinct forms of a baby will add another dimension to the challenge.

Try some images yourself first. It seems like a good idea to first experiment with monochrome materials, whether oil, pastel, charcoal, etc., then see what you will need to do by way if fading the image into the background, so you aren't left having to explain the body part to which your subject body part is attached. You might try white charcoal pencil on a dark paper.

You'll also want to notice even tiny photo problems before you get started...for example in your last image, "Discovering her hands", you can see that her nose forms an odd tangent with the cheek...the only solution to this kind of thing is take a lot of pictures.