Beauty is only skin deep. But ah! me; freckles go to the bone.
~Mark Twain

April, a freckled woman whom I photographed for this series, told me a story from her childhood.  One day after playing outside, her grandmother asked her to go wash up.  She went to the bathroom and did so, but grandma wasn’t satisfied.   “Your face isn’t clean!  Go scrub it some more!”  The young girl was distraught, for all that was left on her skin were her freckles, and no amount of scrubbing would make them go away.

While many view freckles as an aberration or blemish, I find them enchanting, unique, even exotic. More than once, while photographing for this series, a model thanked me for making something beautiful out of what they often viewed as a flaw.  At its essence, Astra Velum explores the beauty of surface textures: human skin and its freckles and scars, like a thin veil of stars.

This series is hand-printed by the artist as a limited edition set of photogravures.  For a better understanding of the process of photogravure, my specific process in creating these unique prints, an artist statement, and more information about the limited edition portfolio, read this PDF: Astra Velum Introduction.

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Individual prints are available, in a limited edition of 30 per image, at $700 each.

Astra Velum is also available as a limited-edition portfolio of 12 photogravures, in a custom clamshell box, at $5500. The portfolio is limited to an edition of 12. (Read and see more about it here.) Pricing for both the portfolio and prints escalate as the edition sells out. Please contact me to place your order.