This is an original one of a kind photo-realistic scratchboard artwork of an elderly person's eye. Many have mistaken this piece for a drawing or photo. Note the extreme detail in the wrinkles and skin cells. The iris of the eye is incredibly detailed as well.
The scratchboard panel is a 1/8" thick board coated with a special white clay and a topcoat of black India ink. I used a scalpel to scratch off the ink in various patterns to expose patterns and tones of white clay to create the image. A diluted black ink wash added additional tone. This European-origin 19th century medium is one of the most difficult art mediums because it is unforgiving if one makes a mistake. One cannot erase or paint over an error.