This portrait is of a lady who passed away many years ago, whose family only has a small, old ID photo — very deteriorated and blurry.
Este retrato es de una señora fallecida hace muchos años cuya familia solo conserva una pequeña foto de carné de identidad antiguo, muy deteriorada y borrosa.
The idea was to “rescue” the grandmother by bringing clarity to her image and creating a realistic portrait that her family could recognize and appreciate. The greatest challenge for me was to capture and reproduce her expression, gesture, and that very particular look, despite the limited information provided by the photograph.
I used a 9B graphite pencil on textured paper. The texture helped produce a soft, diffused image, which was exactly the effect I was aiming for.
La idea era «rescatar» a la abuela proporcionando nitidez a su imagen y conseguir un retrato realista que su familia pudiera dar por bueno. El mayor reto para mí era ser capaz de captar y reproducir la expresión, el gesto y esa mirada tan particular, a pesar de la poca información que proporciona la fotografía.
I used a 9B graphite pencil on textured paper. The texture helped create a soft, diffused image, which was exactly the effect I was aiming for.
The final result captures not just her likeness, but a sense of presence and warmth, honoring her memory while allowing the viewer to connect with her quietly enduring gaze.
El resultado final captura no solo su apariencia, sino también un sentido de presencia y calidez, honrando su memoria y permitiendo al espectador conectar con su mirada, tranquila y perdurable.
You can view more portraits here.
If you’d like to commission a portrait, feel free to get in touch and we can talk about it.