September Takoma Park Events!

Celebrate Fall with LEAVES TO MY KNEES! Author Ellen Mayer and I will be celebrating as part of Day of Play in Takoma Park, MD on Saturday, September 22, 10-2! Story Walk®, art activity, chat with the artist and author. 

On Sunday, September 23, 9:30-10am at People's Books in Takoma Park we will be reading LEAVES TO MY KNEES at storytime! Art activity will be available as well.

Friends local to this area, I'd love to see you there! Please share about this event & spread the word!

Sammy and Pepper

Here's the finished painting, added a bit of ink lines. Extra space on top for text or header. 

This is the original photo. 

First I tried to follow the photo closely.

Maybe if I changed their positions?

It's kind of decorative and very sweet. Maybe if I paint it...

Too sweet.

Also, I didn't like his face.

The hollyhocks were now too distracting.

Maybe looser? Less attention to the hollyhocks? And a bit of loose ink at the end. 

Straight to paint, not much pencil and didn't scan the pencil.

Better.

Still not 100% happy with it, though. 

I decided to try & capture the emotion more than the photo. 

Maybe the boy is younger? 

This felt right. Much simpler. Equal weight/attention on boy and dog. Hollyhocks are just there, not distracting.