Tom Montan, portrait of his mother for BP Prize

This last year has been a tough one. My mom, had a short fight with cancer and passed peacefully in her sleep in August. She lived a long and active life, and was in fact driving, exercising and enjoying friends at this time last year. My mom was an enigma to me on so many levels. She was the super mom and teacher and for those in our little town of Livermore, she was always the “go to” for a talented and engaged volunteer. Mom and I had our challenges, but I am grateful that the last year was spent in various stages of repair and resolve. Since her passing I have been holding on to her and I have been painting her – and I will be sad to finally and truly let her go. I have been fortunate to have the love and life given to me from this incredible human.

This is an emotional painting for me and one that took much too long to finish. I learned a lot and loved the pervasiveness of the media – this piece painted itself in many ways even when I tried to change something – parts of the painting would not let go. I started with multiple paintings and I slowly painted over much of the previous work. This painting is about ghosts and transition and the many things in between. This painting is this years submission to the BP Portrait contest in London England.

The BP Portrait Award
The Portrait Award, now in its thirty-seventh year at the National Portrait Gallery (London England) and is the most prestigious and competitive portrait painting competition in the world. Last years entries reached 2748 from around the world.
The BP Portrait Award 2016 exhibition will run at the National Portrait Gallery from Thursday 23 June to Sunday 4 September 2016.
Tom Montan
Mar 2, 2016