My First Attempt at Painting Matroishka Dolls

At long last I finished my matroishka dolls for an art trade on Illustratedatcs.com. Painting these dolls was a lot harder than I expected and took me a long time as well. First, I used acrylic paints which I'm not so experienced in using. Second, I had a hard time holding the dolls still to draw the details. Third, the curved lines of the doll posed a problem for me in drawing straight lines. (How do those professional painters do it?) Fourth, the gloss gel I covered the dolls with ended up smearing some of the paint and when it dried it left glossy streaks on the doll instead of the nice polished finish of store bought dolls. (What's the trick??) I'm just glad to have finished the dolls for my committment to this project. I don't know if I will attempt painting these dolls again. It was more frustrating to me than it was fun.