More Family

Maybe it's like when you have a crack in a large dam, holding back the nourishing flood waters. Or maybe it's just a coincidence or strange timing, that has opened me to the idea of painting my mother. She is visiting from Boston this week to celebrate a birthday. Although now she gives much support to me being an artist, she wasn't always so enthusiastic. She's often warned of the hazards of pursuing a career in the Arts (that I would become a perpetual waitress). Her scientific mode of thought and her fear of what the future may hold, has until recently, prevented her from seeing the value of a career as a Fine Artist. She once told me that she NEVER wanted me to paint her portrait, because I make people ugly. To be fair, at the time I was in college and I was really pushing the psychology I found in my sitters (although I never considered that to be ugly). Having recently finished the portrait study of my son (and I am still working out the larger full figure composition), I must be more open to painting those I love because I got up enough courage to ask my mother to sit for me. Much to my surprise she complied. This is the first pass (about 2 hours in). I hope to get her to sit at least one more time before she leaves and then finish the background on my own time.



















Mother Reading
oil on panel
20" x 16"