Much Beloved Father

When we married, there was no way my husband’s family could come to our wedding from Iran. To date, I’ve still never met any of his family in person — only on screen in video chats. Even then, it wasn’t much of a meet and greet; they do not speak English. We didn’t have that option when we married — so, I never even got to mug for the camera to “meet” his quite elderly father. His father was older than my grandmother. He was born in 1912; she was born in 1918. Abbas, his father, died in 1996 at the age of 84, shortly before Thanksgiving. A few months later, for our anniversary that year, I created this portrait from a couple of black and white photos of his father. I chose the skin and eye color from Hamid’s coloring. As I observed in others of my grandparents’ generation, people usually become paler with age. So, I adjusted the tones in the portrait on the presumption that, in his advanced age, Abbas would have been paler than Hamid. <h2>This portrait graces the mantle over my corner fireplace</h2> The artwork was done with Bruynzeel colored pencils on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Strathmore-Bristol-Smooth-Bound-Sheets/dp/B000JLMY7M/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=strathmore%2Btape%2Bbound%2Bcold%2Bpress%2Billustration%2Bboard%2B15x20&qid=1696524752&refinements=p_n_feature_two_browse-bin%3A107246123011&rnid=107245738011&s=arts-crafts&sr=1-2&th=1" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Strathmore</a> cold-press illustration board. The heavier board allows for much better color saturation. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bruynzeel-Design-Coloured-Box-Pencil/dp/B0056BQTH6/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3AOEQLLVE1IUE&keywords=bruynzeel+colored+pencils&qid=1696523600&s=arts-crafts&sprefix=bruynzeel+colored+pencils%2Carts-crafts%2C74&sr=1-3" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Bruynzeel</a> colored pencils are the best brand I’ve tried. There is an almost translucent purity to the colors. And, the leads in the pencils stand up to sharpening without breaking — unlike, for example, Crayola® colored pencils.  <a href="https://medium.com/bouncin-and-behavin-blogs/much-beloved-father-27b1a03e0639">Click Here</a>