This is a recently commissioned pencil portrait drawing on archival, heavyweight paper that measures 12″ x 19″:
You wouldn’t know this from just looking at the photo (as I found out yesterday when I delivered it, to my surprise!), but my client was adopted by his family in Lovettsville, VA, when he was orphaned in Ethiopia and living on the streets of Addis Ababa, at 12 years old.
I also found out he was a Peace Corps Volunteer (as I was) in Samoa! However, he was forced to leave after several months there, with a 24-hour notice, due to the covid situation. We got to talking about many things…our experiences as Peace Corps Volunteers, making a difference in your local community, wherever that is in the world, returning to Ethiopia one day to do humanitarian work there, race relations, art, and more.
Two of the four people in the photo are his siblings. One is his sister-in-law and the other is an old childhood friend. He’s gifting the drawing to his brother/sister-in-law as a belated wedding gift!
As always, I’m appreciative to be able to share my artistic gifts to create special pieces of art for others.