The past week I had the unique opportunity to paint the portrait of incredible woman named Livia Shacter, who just turned 100 years old on Sunday April 2. An Auschwitz survivor who speaks 6 languages, she now has 54 great grandchildren (and more on the way). She is warm, gracious, and eloquent and it was a pleasure for me to get to know her over the past few weeks and hear the story of her life.
The name of the project is called פנים אל מול פנים (Face to Face) in conjunction with the Foundation for Holocaust Survivors in Israel. Portraits and biographies will be displayed in Jerusalem April 20-25, surrounding the date of Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day).
I started with a couple sketches…
…then I transferred the drawing onto a 50×60 cm canvas and laid in a light wash with acrylic paints. That was to establish the main shapes and to give me a bit of confidence before I went in with the thick layers of paint…
And the finished portrait: