Progress on "Meaghan"

don't worry . . . that eye is in shadow and won't look like a weird hole for long!

I normally don't do portraits, but this photo just grabbed me -- the cheeks, the hair and all that dramatic lighting! This little girl is Meaghan and she belongs to my good friend June's son and daughter-in-law. This portrait was meant to be a surprise Christmas present to Junie, but I just couldn't keep the secret and showed her a couple weeks ago. (It was hard enough keeping the Dougal secret from my brother, so you'll just have to cut me some slack.)  :)

Anyway, it's a good thing I showed her, because I didn't make my Christmas deadline . . . grrrrr. Actually, June gave me permission to miss it since I had so many other things going on. Thank you Junie!

So here's the progression in case you're interested.  I'm hoping to get this all done and framed by the weekend (hopefully sooner). Oh and incidentally, this little girl is a year old and no lie, she's had that thick, crazy hair since she was born, only then it was jet black. It was a little like Ernie's from Sesame Street -- only more of it. And when you looked at her, you instantly couldn't help but smile. Gradually her hair turned red and when she was 5-6 months, people would stop and ask her mother if she was wearing a wig!  She said she wanted to say "ummm no . . . why would I choose to put a bright red, long-haired wig on my baby?"  Hilarious!