Maiden in a Festive Costume from Thrace, Bulgarian Folk Costume Art Print, Limited Edition

Thrace is the wide plain between the Balkan mountains and the Rhodopes, and its costume is a long tunic in dark blue or black with a bright apron and sleeves embroidered to the shoulder. I painted the apron first, in one wet pass of red and orange, and built the rest of the figure around it.

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.