Digital portrait of my great-grandmother
I was looking in my old drawings from my student's years when I came across a black and white sketch of my great-grandmother - Dimitra. I painted her when she was 82 years old. I decided to recreate her in color as I remember her, adding a distinctive costume specific to her region that she wore as a youth.
She is dressed in authentic folk costume from the small ethnographic group called Kapantsi, located in Northern Bulgaria, Europe. There, she was born and spent her whole life. This is one of the most challenging projects that I have ever done as my great-grandmother passed away many years ago and I didn’t have any pictures of her, so I was trying to remind myself all of the details of her face.
With great anticipation, I presented it to my grandmother, the daughter of my beloved great-grandmother. The moment I handed it to her, her eyes sparkled with a blend of nostalgia and gratitude, capturing a profound and unique emotion that lingered in the air.
I used Photoshop and Impasto brushes to create this portrait.
Hope you are going to like it as well!
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Irena Toshkova • 2020 • All rights reserved
Move the slider right to see the original drawing.
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