Zoey’s reference photo has her lying in a heap of tissue paper (she was working away at shredding it into confetti, my guess is there must have been a graduation party coming up), so in lieu of drawing something not everyone would recognize, I opted to place her on her favorite white oval braided rug. It translates better (though my daughter asked if it was a dinner plate. Not kidding. Would you like fries with that?) – my littlest Chickeymonkey’s reaction was “ooooh FLUFFY!” and that was perfect for me. Fluffy on a dinner plate.

In all seriousness, I love to get the first reactions from my girls because it tells me if the portrait needs more work. It’s honest and raw. In this case, I was already pleased (hence the signature) so their confirmation (after we cleared up the rug thing) was all I needed to feel finished with the portrait.