This is the photo that made me decide I wanted to paint a portrait for my daughter-in-law. She took it shortly after bringing my latest grandchild home (he’s now 7).

I loved this photo instantly and knew I wanted to paint it eventually. It was the lighting and the color palette that attracted me the most. As we were coming up to Thanksgiving and Christmas would follow, I decided it was time. I should have decided I few months earlier. The problem was that even though I loved the photo, I also wanted my daughter-in-law in it. After all she had given us a most wonderful gift 7 years ago. I’ve also always been intrigued by “Madonna and Child” works of art. Maybe because I was never a mother myself.

Anyway, there was a lot of work to be done long before I put paint brush to paper. I scoured my photos for one of L (my daughter-in-law) that would fit within the picture. I started off with some other ones, but couldn’t make them work. I found one from my grandsons first Christmas with a pose that would make sense along side the original. Next up I’ll show you the composite work I did in Photoshop Elements.