Portrait Marathon: Finale, stage two. Strider

I think I'm done.  I know!  I know!  I say that, and then the next day, I fiddle around some more, and THEN I'm done.  So, maybe I should just post this as an update.  The penultimate Spring Portrait Marathon post.

Well, let's back up, and I'll tell you more about how I got to maybe-I'm-done v.1.

In my last post, I hadn't really gotten very far along in the actual painting.

My next stage looked like this.  The white drawing was proving to be very durable (good), but hard to paint out (bad), but I was pretty sure I could work that out with enough time and paint.  Here, I've gotten a pretty good handle on my darks and lights, and laid in the basic color zones I'll be working up from.  I really enjoyed how his brindle stripes looked on the dark blue background.

At this stage, I've come a long way, with bazillions of little hair strokes, in layers, throughout.  The grass and sky background are just suggested, which I thought might stay like that.

I needed to up my contrast, and control the shadowy plane on top of his head a bit more, but this was definitely getting into the final round.

Which brings us to the present.  With a few bazillion more hair strokes, refining the details throughout, and a little bit of adjusting of the background colors, I'm pretty pleased with this result.  Handsome Strider, gazing off to our right, seems to be enjoying a lazy spring or summer day.  Makes me want to lie down in the grass with him, and just watch the clouds go by!

So, am I done?  Tomorrow will tell!

My next project beckons, too!  I'll tell you more about that in my next post.

Portrait Marathon: Finale, stage one. Strider

That's quite a title, huh?  Well, let's get crackin'.  As I said in my last post, this will be my last painting in the Spring Portrait Marathon.  I've got a couple other projects I can't put off anymore, so Strider gets to be the big bang at the end of the show.

Here's the reference I'm working from. A gorgeous hunk of dark brindle really working that strong jawline and the sunlight stroking just the edges of his face.  Mmm MM!

I decided to try something a little different with this one.  I started with a midnight blue canvas (well, actually Thalo blue, but in case you don't know that that means, it's very dark blue), and will be working up to the lights instead of the other way 'round, as I usually do.

I transferred my drawing onto the dark canvas, and just started indicating where the lightest lights will be.  This is what that looks like at the moment.

The highlights on the canvas texture make the blue look lighter than it is.  It's almost black.

This should be interesting.  It will be like painting with my left hand to think this way, but that's supposed to be good for your creativity, right?

Okay.  Let's get to work!

Portrait Marathon: Nikki is done!

Nikki's portrait is finished!  

Lisa's Nikki (aka Ms Hotlips)

Between the last update and this one, I concentrated on building up layers of detail, deepening the shadow areas with color, and basically making all the color zones complicated as in real life.  The scans make the background colors look very different, and have washed out some of the most subtle tones, but this is the best version of it I could tweak out with the help of Photoshop.

Even though I had distractions taking me away from painting, I was always ready and happy to get back to her, and gaze into her captivating face.  I'll miss her perky look and softly grayed face.  Lisa tells me she's quite the kisser: She can kiss me any time!  

We have one more in this series, which I've already begun some prep work on.  More about Strider in my next post!

Portrait Marathon: Nikki graduates from Rehab

Getting there!!

After the rough start, Nikki's portrait languished a bit while I recovered from the trauma, and did some other work.  She gazed back at me vaguely as I passed her throughout the day, patiently or not, she would not say.  Yesterday finally turned out to be her day.  The big graphics I had all ready to send to the printer a few days ago had been re-designed in a vertical format for a different printer, and successfully uploaded (always a moment of fear and trembling to commit and click on the "print" button!)  There was no more reason to delay.

This is where I left off a few days ago.  The general shapes are established, with a light hand.  I got right into it with some Payne's Grey, to really set in the darker values and details.  I never use black in my paintings.  Black paint is very deadening.  There's little or no nuance to it.  I prefer to use Payne's or Ultramarine, or to mix various darks, like burnt umber and ultramarine blue and/or thalo blue, to get deep, lively darks which can represent all the colors that exists in real life, hiding in shadows.  You might not see them all consciously, but their subtleties of warmth or coolness, their complicated juxtaposition of tiny particles of colors playing off each other deep in your brain, keep the image alive.

Where was I before that little love note?

Oh, right.  So, I went in with my beloved Payne's grey, layering up the darks, poking around into the shadows in her (oh my gawrsh!) complicated ears, picking out tine hairs around her eyes, defining her pupils and her beautifully outlined eyes.  I went at her brindling very tentatively at first, establishing the pattern before going back with any detail on her head.  Her nose has been pretty well layered up.  I washed in more color in her brindled zones, added pale washes of blue to further define the planes of her face, and let both blue and raw sienna color and shade her throat to give her both warm life, and cool shading there.

I added the green leafy swirls to give her a decorative and whimsical background.  It's a very sunny day color combination, which I just noticed exactly reflects the jar of buttercups on my desk!  I like how it compliments her bright sophistication.

Overall, she's ready for the barest washes of color, and the tiny highlights that will bring the portrait to life.  Stay tuned!

Portrait Marathon: Nikki, starting over!

*sigh*
Well, do you want to hear how it went?  It went badly.  I tried.  I did.  I tried a few different things.  But, the damage was done.  The paint just wouldn't stick.  I got so frustrated, I actually took the canvas to the sink and scrubbed it off with a scrubby sponge under warm water!  That canvas is now in re-hab (sanded, gessoed, sanded and re-gessoed, but it will take at least one more layer of gesso), and I've moved on.  Sheesh!

So, I re-transferred my drawing (anyone keeping count?  That's the THIRD time!) onto a fresh canvas.  This time, I "drew" over the drawing with a brush and diluted Payne's Gray, so it won't go anywhere.  I washed in some color, using glazing medium, to further fix whatever's left of the graphite floating around, so it won't get dirty later, and this is where we're at at Pizza Time, Friday evening.

Tomorrow is my (husband's) grandson's 3rd birthday, and there's a lot of gardening to do, so not sure if I'll get back to this until ... maybe Monday.  But that's alright.  It'll give me a chance to come back to it fresh.

Sunday, I'm hoping to go to the fairgrounds to watch an AKC dog show, with obedience and so forth.  I've never been to one.  Should be interesting.  Especially if my friend can come, who knows more about this stuff, so she can explain the finer points to me.

Okay, the cats are starting to yell at me.  It's really time to feed the family, and, as I said, it's Pizza Time!

Portrait Marathon: Nikki off to a rocky start!

Ah, poor Licky Nikki!  She doesn't deserve to be handled like this!  It's been a frustrating start to what should be a really fun painting of an adorable gal, but I've made a series of rookie technical errors that have set me back repeatedly.  Sheesh!

Let's start from the beginning.  Here's the reference photo.  Sweet white face, ears pointing in opposite directions, alert gaze ... Great, right?  Yes!  I'm looking forward to this!

So, I work up a drawing, check with her owner Lisa to see if I can remove her collar and pink coat, get the go-ahead and some additional reference photos for her throat and shoulders, and it's off to the races.  I transfer the drawing to the canvas.  I tighten and clean it up (transferring is always a bit vague and messy), get it the way I want it, and try my new trick of washing over it with gesso to fix the drawing.  Ack.  First it was too thick, which obscured the drawing, so I tried to gently brush it thinner, and it just washed the drawing off!  *grumble*  Fine.  So, I waited for it to dry, and started over with a fresh transfer, clean and tighten.  Now what?  I had decided to try spraying it lightly with a workable fixative meant for pencil drawings.  Uh oh!  It left a sheen, and it turned out I was right to worry about the paint not adhering to the canvas.  I started my underpainting, and got a ways into it before the first bits of paint started rubbing off when painted over!  Gah!!

I really didn't want to wipe out what I'd done so far, so I figured, in for a penny, in for a pound!  I washed ever-so-lightly over every bit of the drawing with color mixed with medium, which is sticky stuff, hoping it would sort of glue everything back down once and for all.  It did lift the paint in a few spots while I did that, but it seemed to be holding.  Once that dried, I went one step further and hit it with a thin glaze of varnish.  Once THAT dried, I tested it to see if I could A. paint on top of the varnish, and B. it would keep things in place.  SUCCESS!  That's where I'm stopping for tonight, before anything else goes wrong.

While waiting for one or the other layer to dry, I went over to WetCanvas (what a cool forum!!) to ask the question about how to fix a drawing before painting over it.  One person suggested going over the drawing with a thin coat of paint, basically re-drawing it, but with a brush, which I have done in the past.  Another person suggested hairspray!  He likes it, but ... I gotta wonder if it wouldn't have the same problems I had with the fixative.  Besides, being a non-girly girl, I don't have any!

The pets are clamoring for their dinner, and so's my own stomach, so that's it for now.

Portrait Marathon: Dorie DONE

Dorie's portrait is finished!

I like her Mona Lisa smile, combining with the pirate get-up for an interesting mood.

Since my last post, you can see that I layered in lots of blues, not just in the bonnet, but in her face and body as well. I reclaimed the little fuzzy bit of her ear you can see inside the gold hoop.  Lots of additional small details have gone in; some hairs picked out, whiskers added, highlights and lighter tones in the eyes, her lower lip darkened, the texture in the nose.  I'm particularly happy with how that texture came out, and this .jpg does not do it justice.  ;P  The fiery background has been mottled on the left with a darker tone, and on the right with some more yellow.  That doesn't show very well at all, despite a good deal of time in Photoshop trying to regain the sense of the original.  Ah well!  Chris will get to appreciate all that attention to detail when she sees it in person, right?  The little string of pearls around the pirate patch on her head are also quite pearl-y, and the kerchief has good dimension, which I'm happy with, too.  It's up to Chris to say if I got Dorie's personality right!

Next up is Lisa's Gambling Nikki.  Or, "Licky Nikki", as her family fondly refers to her.  A big kisser, this one!  Isn't she a cutie?  She looks like she's homing in on her next kiss target!  LOL!

Portrait Marathon: Dorie in color!

Here's where we are now.  As you can see, things have been heating up!  Her brindle patch is in, the cool blues are layering up nicely.  Touches of pink are showing in the nose and eye, and the irises of her eyes are gaining depth.  Oh, and the pirate skull has a red bandana, now.

The remaining work should come together pretty quickly (I always say that, and then spend hours refining and refining!) ... although I can't say I'm looking forward to painting around all the little bone shapes on the bonnet!  :P

Can I just say, I really LOVE painting with this medium.  It's a little persnickity, but it just creates such depth, in such a magical way.  I love seeing it build with subtlety into crystal, light-filled reality.

I'm calling it a night, and going to have pizza night with my beloved husbandman.  Have a wonderful evening, folks!

portrait Marathon: Dorie develops

Sorry about the slow progress in this marathon!  Other work keeps getting in there, needing to be done.  But, the marathon goes on!  For those of you keeping track, we are on Number 7, of a proposed 10 painting series, to benefit The Grey Muzzle Organization, in honor of my dear departed greyhound, Happy.   This is Dorie, a greyhound herself, and apparently a fan of pirate culture, in the adjusted image I'm using for reference.

This is where I started this morning.  As you can see, I've got the bright yellow-orange that will heat up the background in, and just a beginning on the shading, the underpainting that gives the shape to the layers above.  You can just see the pale pencil drawing, which is about how well I can see it when I'm painting.

This is where I am now.
The underpainting is pretty much there.  There will be detail darks going in as the painting comes down to the finish line, but this is pretty much it.

Dorie, being a mostly white dog, is a challenge in that I have to keep the shading both minimal and significant.  White reflects even minimal light, which has to show in the painting, which makes for subtle shadows.  The dark skin under her coat, that shows through in places around her eyes and nose between hairs that thin or change direction, are opportunities to get in and do some detailing.

Here's a little closer look at her eye area, as it stands right now.

You may have noticed I've removed her collar.  I do that sometimes!  I felt it was a distractingly blocky shape in this case, so *poof!*  Gone!  The magic of ART!

Now to start throwing some color at this baby!

Portrait Marathon: Dorie begins

What a cute lady she is!  Lookit her, in her little pirate bonnet!  Too funny!

This is the photo as I received it.  As you can see, it's posed well, but it's very dark.  You can't see her eye color, and her nose is indistinctly lost in general darkitude.

So, enter Photoshop!  This is my working reference.  Stuff has a way of evolving while I'm painting, as some of you may have noticed, but this is my general idea for now.

It's already been an interesting morning!  We went for a walk with the dogs up our country road, and past a meadow with a new crop of young dairy cows.  Each new herd of "cow girls" seems curious enough about us to follow us along the fence, up a long hill, and then back down on the way back.  Sometimes they moo a bit, and I can't help but reply.  This time, I tried to start the conversation, as the cowgirls were gallumphing up the muddy hillside, and Pogo growled and barked at them!  He's never bothered about them before, but it occurred to me that maybe he thought my low moo was a growl, so we must be growling at them!

When we got back, I got a call from our next door neighbor that one of his miniature cows had given birth, and did I want to come see the new baby?  I was over in a flash!  They're not particularly tame, so we didn't get more than 10' or so close, which was making Mama Cow a bit nervous as it was.  Baby was up, trying to nurse, but her udder seemed barely more than an unbred heifer's, to my inexperienced eye, and she didn't let Baby get a good shot at it while we were there, anyway.
Neighbor called to say he'd checked Baby out, and she's a girl, and that she had managed to suckle a bit, but I'm still wondering about the udder size.  He's going to look it up.  These are his first go at this breed.

Meanwhile, the goldfinches are here finally, just in time for the dandelions to begin to go to seed.  We saw some yellow (golden?) crowned finches the other day, too.  Pretty little things.  AND the first garter snakes are making their appearances!  The apples and crab apples are beginning to bloom, the grass is already setting seed, last years overgrown collards are flowering ...  Spring!!  YEAY!!

Portrait Marathon: Grover, DONE some MORE!

I spoke too soon, again!  Grover's blue universe was bugging me.  It was a little too monochromatic.  Also, the shadows on his shoulder looked like a net or weird markings, though they were fairly faithful to the photo.  So, I worked over the stuffie to help Grover's handsome face stand out better, and toned down his body a bit ... then back up a bit.  I also threw in some nearly invisible, but helpful, tones into the background to make the colors more interestingly complex.  When I showed it to H, he asked what more I'd done to Grover's face to make it jump out more, but that's the one area I hadn't touched!  So, I guess my plan worked.  :)

I have an idea for a painting that I think I might slap together today.  The weather's too funky to garden, and painting's more fun than housework, so I think I'll do a little experiment.  I also have to get my visual aid ready for my workshop next weekend.  Who's coming?  RSVP asap!  :D

Portrait Marathon: Grover, DONE

Grover's portrait is finished!  At least, so I say this afternoon.  I sometimes (okay, usually) tweak just a bit here, or an area there the next morning, but it's basically done.  I'm calling it.

Since we were here last, I broke out the afore-mentioned leeeetle brushes to do some detail work, laying in the shadows alongside particular hairs, then each hair's highlight.  Okay, not everywhere, every hair!  The tightest focus I reserved fro around the eyes, then picked out a bit here and there, with the overall effect being realistic without being fussy or photographic.  Darker darks have gone in, and lightest lights.  Note the eyes, now brought into light-filled and shadowed liquid shape.  The brindle stripes have evolved from somewhat crude splotchy areas to more distinct hair patterns.  The mood I'm hoping for here is intimate and quiet.  His eyes meeting yours with relaxed trust and affection.  I hope I've achieved my goal, and that Tena can enjoy this portrait for a long time to come.

__________________________

Next up is Chris's Dorie, a delightfully spotty greyhound.  But first, I gotta clean my poor sticky brushes!

Portrait Marathon: Grover, stage 4

I've built up more color, and am starting to get some complexity in the shadows, but it is still a very loose painting at this point.  In the next phases, I'll start using my leeeeetle brushes, and get the details tightened up.  Still a ways to go!

Portrait Marathon: Grover, stage 3

Grover is looking very brooding, yet colorful, in his bright blue universe!

The fluffy texture of the stuffy is developing nicely (whew!), and Grover's color areas are now laid in.  There are washes of warm pink in his face and body where his warm skin tones just show through his pale, fine greyhound fur.  His eyes are very dark, so I'll have to give them some highlights for depth and life.  I feel like this is still going in the right direction.

So, onward!

Portrait Marathon: Grover, stage 2

Grover, in a blue mood, begins his journey into portraithood.  He's got a long way to go, but I like to show you the basic underpainting stage.  This is really where the painting is anchored.  It can be a bit off at this stage, but the closer it is here, the easier the rest is.  For instance, the pupils in the eyes need to be matched a little better, and the texture in the fleece stuffy he rests his head on will need a lot of work, yet (now it looks like weird veins or roots coming out of his head!  :P ).  But, the brindling is in place, the darks are well-established, the shapes are well in hand, his eyes, nose and ears are pretty much how I want them.
The devil's in the details, but I feel like I've got a good start, here.

I've had some interest in the workshop I'm having at my home May 15th!  I wish you could all be there!  Maybe I can get my beloved husband to take some pictures to share with you, anyway.  If anyone does want to come, let me know.  Even if you're from away.  It could be fun!

Okay, back to work!

Portrait Marathon: Grover begins

Grover!  Just the name makes me think goofy thoughts.  But, Tena refers to him as "Gentleman G", and the reference photo is very subdued, so settle down, Xan!

Here's what I'll be working from:
His eyes are not so light or yellow, Tena tells me, so I'll change that.  Also, I think I'll throw in a rather darker shadow on the left side of his face (our left, his right) for some dimension and drama.

I've already done my drawing, sanded and re-primed the canvas, transfered the drawing, cleaned it up, and gessoed over it.  It's drying while I write this post.

On a somewhat different subject, I've begun to be aware that my work keeps me pretty isolated on a day to day basis.  So, I've joined a local MeetUp group called Creative in Bellingham.  It's not a very active group yet, so I figured I'd help get the ball rolling by offering a workshop (I called it a "skill swap") at my house.  I'm going to teach the technique I've been using to paint these portraits you've seen me do here.  I have some ideas for making a visual aid, a demo board, where I'll have a whole painting, that progresses across the surface, so that on one side it will be just the sketch, then a section with the underpainting, then another section with the first layers of color, etc., 'til it's finished and detailed on the far edge.  Should be interesting to look at!  Not sure what I'll paint, yet.  Probably one of my own 6 pets (for a change!)

The group and the event are open to anyone, so if you're interested, join the group and sign up!  :)

Portrait Marathon: LOTTIE is done!

Lottie's portrait is done!
I finished it, almost, on Friday, then Saturday, then really actually finished it again some more yesterday morning before breakfast.

When last we saw her, Lottie looked pretty jaundiced.
My next steps were to start pouring on the color, and bringing up detail.

I apologize ahead of time for not taking more progress pictures.  I got to a point where I thought I'd have to start over, which is a familiar phase I've learned to call "the ugly stage" and then keep painting.  I really thought I'd lost all control of it this time.  But, having been at that point so often before, I kept going, kept refining, kept adjusting ... But I didn't want to stop to scan it, nor let anyone see it in those awkward stages, so ... I'll skip forward to the bit where I felt I had got a handle on it again.

  This is a long way past the yellow phase above.  Part of what was causing me fits was the shadow side of her body, where I needed to suggest both the sunlight reflecting on her red fur, and the cool shadows curving down her side.  What baffled me was my ASSUMPTION that the sunlight would be warm, and shadow cool.  What I finally realized I was fighting with myself about was that the light bouncing off her fur was reflected from the blue sky; cool.  The light that was bouncing back off the grass onto her shadowed side was actually less cooled by the blue sky, revealing the warmth of her red fur.  When I finally stopped arguing with my accurate perception (those hairs are brushed with a blue-white light!) by trying to insist they be lit with golden-yellow sunlight, it just started to click.  Here you can see that taking shape, including on her sunny side, to our left.  There was an interesting mix of cool and warm tones on her face, which took some getting acquainted with, too.  Her sweet face is developing that white mask of a mature dog, which needed to be brought up to much lighter tones for her face to come truly forward.  

Here we have Lottie's final look.  The highlights are all in, the deepest darks are picked out, there is a sheen of blue sky reflecting on top of her nose, and her eyes are full of warmth and humor.  What a joy to have this smiling face in front of me for days!

Nancy, thanks for the honor of letting me paint Miss Lottie's portrait, and for contributing to the Grey Muzzle Organization.



Next up is Tena's Grover!  Grover's portrait is a little more subdued, as he cuddles on the couch with a stuffie.  Back with the progress as it happens!

As always, please let me know what you think in my comments!  I love to get your honest feedback.

Portrait Marathon: Return to LOTTIE

EDIT!!  Huge apologies to Nancy and Lottie for my brain-freeze!!  Somehow, I got Lottie's name switched up in my head while I wrote this.  I've now corrected it!  :P

Okay, that was quite a break, considering this supposed to be a non-stop marathon!

I'm starting from this happy photo of Lottie smiling for the camera in the sunshine (one in a very funny series where her brother was stalking her as she posed, all unaware, then pounced her, with predictable results!  LOL!):

I started by transferring my drawing to the canvas, which turned out to be harder than usual, which took me awhile to figure out.  Usually, I use a piece of transfer paper, and draw over my sketch using it like old-fashioned carbon paper.  The graphite on the transfer paper comes off a little messily onto the canvas, I tune up the drawing with a sharp pencil, clean up the smeary places, and off I go.  But, it just wasn't transferring!  I repeated it with new transfer paper (you can re-use transfer paper quite a bit before it's lost too much graphite to work).  No better!  I did that again, trying to be very careful, and really bear down.  Nope.  I realized this particular canvas seemed pretty rough.  I used to sand and re-prime them all, but I kind of got to like the texture, so I don't always do that anymore. I decided I needed to do that on this one because it was like trying to do a nice sketch on a stucco building!

So, sanded, primed, dried, successfully transferred, and cleaned up.  I had read recently that some artists like to wash a thin layer of gesso over their sketch to keep the pencil or graphite (or charcoal or whatever) from smearing into the paint.  Brilliant!  I tried it, and it was like dipping it in milk.  Just enough to fix the graphite without obscuring the light sketch.  Looks about like this:

That worked pretty well!  I'll have to keep that in my bag of tricks.

Looking at my reference photo, I decided to give the whole painting a wash of sunny yellow, dog and all.  That will give the whole painting a sense of being washed in warm summer sunlight.  Then I washed on some green, mixed from the leftover yellow and blue, for the grassy background, keeping it most dense down in front, and fading it as it moves back away from us, to give some perspective.  I started working on the underpainting, the darks, next, using Payne's grey.  I started off very timidly, because ... well, I had broken my stride by leaving this sit for awhile, and that always makes me timid.  Like I'm painting on someone else's painting or something.  It's an odd feeling.

I tried using the glazing medium with the Payne's, but it was too snotty and too dilute, so once I got my nerve back a bit, I just used water to dilute the grey, and that was much easier to control.  After I got most of the shading and marking about how I wanted, I washed over most areas, including the grass, with a bright orange, to neutralize the green a bit (it was ... vivid!), and to establish the wonderful reds in Lottie's coat.  That's about where I am right now.

It's going to be fun, going in with some light-light areas to pull up Lottie's sun-lit face and lighter areas of fur.  That will be a big jump from this state.  I'll probably do that next.

Edited to add: Bailey's humans have been so generous with their complements!  I'm so pleased you guys are happy with the portrait, Eliza and David!  The framing is wonderful.  Really suits her regal and thoughtful mood.

Thanks again for participating in this marathon, and for the chance to paint her loveliness.

Portrait Marathon: MikiToo is More done, and Lottie steps up to the plate

MikeToo needed just a little more tweaking, so I thought I'd show his final result here.  I'm so pleased!  I hope you enjoy it for many years, Judy!

Meanwhile, I've gotten going on Nancy's Miss Lottie, a stunning fawn brindle greyhound.  Here's my reference picture, all photoshopped and ready to guide me through the painting.

We've got company today, so I don't know if I'll have time to paint at all.  :(  But, if I can, I will!  I'd like to pick up the pace on this marathon.  Seems like there have been way too many interruptions!

Okay, I'm off to the housecleaning trenches.  Anyone want to trade housework for art????  (Not kidding!!  Anyone??)

Portrait Marathon: MikiToo is DONE

MikiToo is ready to view!

Let me catch you up on how I got to the finish line with Miki.

You saw the underpainting pretty well underway in the last post.  I did deepen the shadows in various places, refined the eyes a bit, and the nose.  I went about as dark as I could right around the lightest areas of his face, to really get maximum mileage out of the high contrast there.

Then I started washing in some color.  I didn't get any progress pics of that because once I get going, it's hard to stop!  One challenge in this painting is to get the mixture of influences right to get his subtle blue-brindle coloring warmed by some reflected light coming into the shadow areas.  So, cool shadow area, warm reflected light, almost neutral almond-like fur color.  Many layers went into it to get that total effect.  I hope!  I fussed a lot with the edges of the shadow/highlight areas.

I hear my pizza calling to me, so I'll let you all get on with YOUR Friday night plans.

Oops!  I just realized I haven't notified Nancy that her Lottie is up next!  Better do that now.  Stay tuned!  We're only on #5 of 10 (or maybe 17 ... we'll see!)

Have a great evening!