Portrait of Alex

The BP Portrait award judges liked this painting enough to choose it for the final 500 considered for the exhibition... unfortunately it wasn't selected for the final show.
 I titled it January, after the month in which it was painted and the wintry palette, I thought it spoke of our first year with our first child,  Bella.  I painted a number of portraits through the previous year, none of which were successful, and so this was my last chance with the deadline approaching, Though not perfect i thought it caught a mood, and a likeness.