“Study of Young Galena for a Double Portrait of Alstonia Kohle and Her Daughter Galena,” 2025. Ink on two sheets of vellum, 4 x 6 in.

In this series of studies for a larger portrait of Galena and her mother, Alstonia, I’ve made use of the vellum’s translucency, stacking images on top of text copied by hand from the manuscript.

Allegedly, Galena didn’t even sit for the portrait herself, as she was living on the family’s estate outside the former Verlamion colony on the Valbaran continent at the time it was executed. Her mother is said to have posed as her daughter or hired a look-alike to play the part.

The text behind the portrait is from a conversation between Vaster and Galena that was cut from the manuscript’s second draft along with the rest of the dinner scene.