Happy Birthday Katie!!

Today is my birthday and also today marks the one year anniversary of this blog!  Yipee!!  But today is special for another reason... 21 years ago today I gave birth to my beautiful daughter Katie!  The best birthday present ever, I always tell her.  Since the 21st birthday is a Big Deal, I thought I'd make her a special drawing or painting to celebrate this milestone.  Life often gets in the way of my best laid plans, though, and I haven't been able to finish what I started.  So here is the beginnings of my drawing for Katiebug:

Well as you can plainly see, this is not in the slightest bit botanical.  It is, in fact, our dog Ginger.  Katie does love flowers, but she loves Ginger even more.  So I'm using my finely-honed colored pencil technique to do this pet portrait for my girl.  I hope you enjoy this little doggie detour.  It won't take long.

Fun fact: The absolute maximum number of helium-filled balloons that can fit in my car with me driving is 21.

Busy weekend ahead so there won't be much drawing time, I fear.  But don't give up on me . . . I have big plans for this second year of blogging :)