Lola’s portrait was a surprise gift from her son-in-law, but Lola wasn’t the recipient.  The surprise was for her daughter. 

Since I paint only from photos I take myself, my portraits can never come completely out of the blue to their subjects—they’ve sat for me and my camera so they know a painting is coming.  Still, the finished works never fail to be something of a surprise to their subjects!

To learn more about the making of this painting, please visit this article on my blog.