Artist who spent three days painting portrait of her dead mother

A candid painting of an artist's mother after she had died is in the running for a prestigious arts prize at the National Portrait Gallery.

Daphne Todd completed Last Portrait Of Mother in April last year - painted over three days as the body of mother Annie Mary Todd lay at an undertaker.

Annie, who is shown unclothed and wearing a white wristband, had been living with her daughter for the last 14 years of her life.

She had been the subject of several of the artist's paintings during her life, and had agreed to the post-death portrait after celebrating her 100th birthday five months before, the London gallery said.

Daphne Todd, 63, from East Sussex, who was the first female president of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, said: ' I talked things through with the undertaker, and they kindly gave me the time and space to paint the portrait. She was on a trolley, raised up on pillows, as I remember last seeing her in hospital.

'People do change and move after death. They sink into themselves - they continue on their way.'

Ms Todd said she carried on with the work until she began to feel uncomfortable.

Three artists have been shortlisted for the BP Portrait Award, an international arts prize that received a record 2,177 entries this year.

Ms Todd took second place in the gallery's Portrait Awards in 1984.

The other two artists this year are David Eichenberg, 38, and Michael Gaskell, 46.

American artist Eichenberg is shortlisted for Tim II, which shows his friend, sculptor Timothy A Stover, seated at work in an old warehouse in Toledo, Ohio.

Gaskell won second prize last year. Originally from Sheffield, he recently relocated to Leicester and only got to know his subject, Harry, when he agreed to sit for him.

Having seen Harry while he was out shopping with his family, the artist was persuaded to approach him by his wife.

The portrait, titled Harry, was completed in a 'short burst' of intense work last winter

National Portrait Gallery director Sandy Nairne is chairing the judging panel and described entries as 'another outstanding year'.

For the fourth year there will also be a BP Young Artist Award of £4,000 for the work of an entrant aged between 18 and 30.

The overall winners will be announced on June 22.

Fifty-eight portraits have been selected for an exhibition of entries at the National Portrait Gallery which will runs from June 24 to September 19.

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I have recently become very interested in art, so much so I am teaching myself to paint. So I was very surprised to read that this rather unusual, if not macabre piece, has actually been short-listed for a major and prestigious prize.

There is hope for me yet.