something for mother's Day

Usually in late April my Mum reminds me that we need a new artwork to go on our Mother's Day cards for our female relatives. Here is what I came up with for 2016.

Firstly a rough pencil sketch.

Then comes the ink. For this picture I used nib ink rather than my usual felt tip ink. This scan was before I rubbed out the underlying pencil marks.

Now to add a bit of colour. Firstly initial washes of gold and a little skin tone.

Then hair and shadow areas. At this point I was in two minds whether to add the expected blue or not. The need for a bit more contrast between mother and child tipped the balance. 

Light pinks don't tend to scan very well, sadly. But I am happy with the final result, and so was Mum, my Aunts and Grandmothers. I'm hoping our heavenly Mother was happy with it too.