Old drawing of my mother

[James Garrison]

Thank you Allan. I admire your paintings very much. Oil painting is new to me, and frustrating, because I do not yet have sufficient technical control over the medium. I envy those, like yourself, who do.
If I remember correctly, I started the picture from life, using a string grid. The snow was melting pretty quickly, so I took some photos of the background and the subject and finished it in the studio.
I really don't have a problem with working from photos because I have done lots of drawing from life. But I find it very important to make careful value studies from life, especially taking note of the differences in value between the lightest light and the darkest dark of each part of the subject. In this way, I can change to a higher tonal key and still retain the value relationships. The avoidance of photographic distortion, and the careful modulation of edges is also important.
As you can see in the details, I am not overly concerned with being technically clean. I believe the overall effect is what is important.