COWRIE SHELL WOMAN

I spotted this woman sitting outside of my favorite tea shop. Besides her dope ‘fit, her hair was intricately braided in stitch cornrows, which were each studded from top to bottom in the brightest gold cowrie shells I’ve ever seen. It was like her own personal African halo. Here I used a relatively light hand, just sketching out her body and backdrop, because I wanted to reserve focus to the gold of her jewelry and those stunning gold cowries. And I definitely couldn’t resist the royal contrast of purple and gold.