The Dr. Whitehead portrait was an early commission that my mother painted when she first moved back to her home town of Bournemouth after her divorce, see the Biography for details. She was very pleased to land the commission and hoped that it would get her foot in the door with the more affluent segment of local society. This didn’t exactly happen and she continued to struggle to make a living from her portrait commissions.

I think this portrait is very interesting for being a profile as opposed the usual full face view. The use of palette knife and the broad planes of color amplify the doctors strong features and personality. I’m sure she would have preferred to do a larger painting and I think this small size is a result of her pricing structure at the time and probably the smallest she would be willing to paint but as she was just starting she did have a sufficient portfolio to encourage the bigger investment of larger sizes.