Kossara's World

PETER MILLER

Kossara's World

oil on canvas

1050 x 700 mm

$7,500 inc gst 

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Kossara was the sister of Teodora who, along with her partner Radoslav (Rado), run the residency that I attended in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

I was working on a painting at the residency one day that she was there, a painting of a girl (my niece) in a small rowboat, and she asked me what the meaning of the painting was eg. what it was about. When I told her she started crying and when I asked why she was crying she said that the meaning of the painting reminded her of her situation at the time. It turned out that her father had recently died and she was now feeling very lost, as he had been the anchor in her life- she had fallen into a very dark emotional state, and along with that she seemed to have issues with self image and, with that, self esteem. I asked her if I could do a second painting with the rowboat using her as the model, which she agreed to.

Whilst taking some photos to work from I was struck by her hidden beauty in some of the photos and asked if she would allow me to paint a portrait of her also. She was a bit stunned with that request as her low self esteem made her feel that she was not worthy, eg. not beautiful enough, but she was also overwhelmed with pleasure that I wished to, and loved watching it unfold in the residency studio.

This painting is a result of that request. I finished her image whilst there but ran out of time to complete the painting so rolled it up to bring home, as was always my intention with all of the paintings started there- the background was completed here in my NZ studio.

I have a strong connection to this painting as I feel it captures her well, her looks, her personality, her fragility at the time.  Peter Miller 2025