Countess of Granthem

A superb portrait Philip. You have really caught the character very well.

My, this looks good in that frame Philip.

I once had the idea of producing a series of oil paintings, mostly out of my own head, purporting to be my &quot;ancestral&quot; portraits: haven&#39;t entirely abandoned the idea, although it&#39;s a bit trivial to be honest, and it wouldn&#39;t fool anyone even if I were seriously trying to. <br /><br />This reminds me of that idea - except in your case, I&#39;d try to sell it to Dame Maggie Smith, changing the title to Dame Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess of Granthem/am, or whatever it is she&#39;s playing; it would rival the portrait of Mrs Siddons, in character costume.<br /><br />It&#39;s very well accomplished of course, especially as I&#39;m assuming you didn&#39;t get her to sit for you: and actually selling it might present you with a copyright problem if the pose was taken from a publicity shot or study. As an idea for improving your oil painting technique, though, it&#39;s positively inspired - you have none of the pressures of a commission, didn&#39;t need to worry about the expectations of your sitter, and could just concentrate on developing your technique - which you&#39;ve done brilliantly.