Maiden with Bear Cubs at the Stone Steps in Pirin, Bulgarian Folk Costume Art Print, Limited Edition

The Steps are a rock formation in the Pirin mountains, and bears still live in the forest below them. I put a maiden in the Bansko costume there with two bear cubs, which is the kind of thing that happens in Bulgarian folk songs rather than in life. The rocks are painted in grey washes and the cubs in warm umber.

Why it is a limited edition

Each print is made in an edition of 150, and I sign and number every copy in pencil under the image. The edition is small so that every copy can be made properly: the file is scanned from the painting itself, printed on museum-quality cotton paper with archival pigment inks, compared with the original in daylight and corrected until the colours match, and only then signed. When the last copy is sold, the edition closes for good.

Paper, inks and sizes

• Archival pigment inks on acid-free, museum-quality watercolor paper, so the texture of the original is kept
• Framed canvas options in a black wooden frame, ready to hang
• 15 sizes, from 8 x 10 in (20 x 26 cm) to 40 x 55 in (100 x 140 cm)
• Small sizes ship flat in rigid cardboard, large sizes rolled in a hard tube

The frame is not included unless the option says Framed Canvas. Part of my Bulgarian folklore collection, painted from old photographs, museum costumes and the villages themselves.