MARBLEHEAD — Stella Charney spent two months carefully building layers of oil paint to recreate a cherished family photograph, her mother holding her as a baby.

The Marblehead High School junior recently displayed the portrait at Abbot Hall as part of Veterans Middle and High School Annual Art Exhibition, sharing a piece that began as a Mother’s Day gift and became her first oil portrait.

Charney’s father, a photographer, took the photo that she based the portrait on. 

“I was looking through old pictures of myself because I thought it would be cute to paint me as a baby, and I fell in love with this one,” she said.

The painting captures a shared moment between mother and daughter. Charney’s mom, Alison, is holding her against her chest, with Charney peaking over her mom’s shoulder, smiling at her father.

A moment that probably happened hundreds of times, but Charney’s father, Jared, saw the beauty in the moment and captured it. Little did he know that, almost 17 years later, the little girl, almost all grown up, would paint it as a gift for her mother.

Jared Charney, who is also a freelance photographer for The Daily Item, followed the project from beginning to end.

“He said it was one of his favorite photos,” she said. “He saw the whole process and was really shocked by how it turned out.”

Charney said she was drawn to the way her mother held her in the image.

“I liked how she was holding me,” she said. “It felt very motherly.”

Charney, a junior enrolled in Honors Art Studio 3 at Marblehead High School, said she had never attempted an oil portrait before beginning the project.

“It took me about two months,” she said. “I had to learn a lot while doing it.”

There were moments when she doubted the painting would come together.

“At first, the baby’s face looked like a grandpa,” she said, laughing. “It was really hard to make the face look realistic.”

As the portrait developed, Charney said she began to see the details take shape, especially in her mother’s hair.

“Adding the highlights in my mom’s hair was really satisfying,” she said. “My favorite part was when everything started coming together at the end.”

Charney credits her high school art teacher, Shirley Huller White, with helping her grow more confident in her work.

“She always works with students one-on-one,” Charney said. “She’s amazing.”

Although Charney has loved drawing and painting since childhood, she said she mostly taught herself before taking art classes in high school.

“This year, I wanted to broaden how I think about art and learn more about painting,” she said.

Outside the classroom, Charney also runs a nonprofit jewelry business called Shella Designs. A play on her name and shells.

She creates ocean-themed jewelry using shells collected from Marblehead beaches and family vacations. 

Money raised through the business, @shelladesigns on Instagram, supports ocean cleanup efforts aimed at reducing plastic pollution.

“I’ve always loved the ocean,” she said. “Living in Marblehead, it’s always been such a big part of my life.”

Looking ahead, Charney hopes to study design and business in college while continuing to explore art in different forms.

She also hopes younger artists remember one thing when starting a new project: patience matters.

“You have to trust your process,” she said. “It’s never going to look perfect right away.”