Glad you worked through the upload mine field.
In a word: Wow!
You're a Painter rookie? You could have fooled me. This is really creative work... I wouldn't know where to begin with a critique, unless it would be to paint in the 'rough areas' in her face.
re: Brush question
Hmmm... have not run into that one myself, but I only dabble with Painter. In case you're not aware, despite the fact Painter has been around many years, it is well known for being flakey (unusual, not understood behavior at times; unusual crashes for no apparent reason, etc.), even at version 10. In other words SAVE often. Really.
Given your obvious (to me) talent, let me suggest you consider joining the
Paint Outside the Frame community: (
http://www.digitalpaintingforum.com/). These folks eat Painter for lunch whereas Painter use among RetouchPRO members is fairly light by comparison. Lots and lots of Painter users there - from rookies to superstars. Nice folks, too, plus hints, tips, custom brush downloads, etc.
Don't get me wrong: I'm
not trying to get rid of you... just pointing you to a resource that's very well suited for where you want to go with Painter.
The rub: There's a modest annual fee (which goes up 10/1/2007), but it's a drop in the bucket compared to what you've already invested in CS2, Painter 9.5 and X. IMO a great investment.
Hope some of my blathering helps...