That gap is the interesting part. Her colleagues are about to give her something marking the job, and they'll get the job right. You are in a position to give her something marking the person who did it, and those are two different presents. Buying a second version of the workplace one is the common mistake here.
Find the photograph first
Somewhere there is a picture of her in the middle of it: in uniform, behind a desk, on a ward, at the front of a classroom, standing outside the place on her first day. Family albums usually hold one and nobody's looked at it in years. Start there rather than at a shelf, because the photograph decides the gift and not the other way round.
Painted rather than reprinted
A reprint of an old photograph is still an old photograph, and pictures from the middle of a career are rarely sharp enough to enlarge. Painting it through the portrait flow changes what the flaws mean: grain and soft focus read as brushwork. Choose oil, watercolour, charcoal, pop art or impressionist. Verify your email for up to three successful free previews per day, and review the results before ordering.
Canvas comes to £85.00, or £119.99 with the frame. Paper is cheaper: £19.99 for A4, £34.99 for A3, £74.99 for a framed A3.
If the photograph does not exist
Then use the facts. The name print puts her name, her profession, her years and her workplace into editorial type. £14.99 for A4, £28.99 for A3, £69.00 for a framed A3. Ask for the number of years even if she has never mentioned it, because the print is better with it than without.
Timing
A fortnight is comfortable. The press takes two to four working days and the courier two to five, anywhere in Britain, at no extra charge.
If it is your nan rather than your mum, the guide to buying for a nan begins somewhere different, and retirement gifts for women takes the wider view of a long career. Both are listed under who is retiring.
