Bessie Coleman

Created with soft pastels on museum-quality, heavyweight, acid-free watercolor paper,

this work began with a digitally composed background of Chicago Defender newspaper

clippings, grounding the piece in historical narrative. After transferring the design to the

paper, I toned it with transparent watercolor washes to suggest the passage of time,

then applied a mixture of clear acrylic gel and sand for subtle texture and depth. Over

this layered foundation, I rendered my daughter’s portrait in soft pastel. As in all my

Shadow Series works, the archival imagery, aged tones, and textured surface serve as

symbolic threads, linking personal memory to collective history, honoring resilience, and

bridging generations through portraiture.