Mother

Oil on 12x16 canvas. It has been always difficult for me to draw Mom's picture, lest that I may not give justice to her likeness. She herself paints, too, so she knows what's good artwork and what's not. Years back, I made studies of her in pencil and those works never got me to anything. Perhaps, I didn't know what I was doing. Now with the little knowledge acquired, I thought of doing it once again, and with a bit of boldness, I chose oil. I copied this from an old pic when she was 16. Looking at it carefully and closely, it looked more like an old picture than a portrait in oil. I realized brushstrokes and tones are finely and delicately done, when it should be painterly. It lacked life. The face looked flat and there's not much partitions of anatomy. It took me approximately 8 hours to finish this.