Tribute painting

I just read Robert Crais's new book, Suspect, and since I was going to review it for my work blog, I thought I'd do a tribute painting to go along with it, of the character Maggie (the German Shepherd). I have painted a few cats in my day, but no dogs that I can remember, and honestly this came out looking more like paint-by-numbers than anything else. Fur is hard in watercolor! And getting the texture of the soft ears, and especially the expression in the eyes, also hard. Maybe I needed a smaller brush and a couple more hours? So I decided not to show it on the work blog, and just put it here; but then positive comments from my cousin and her friend convinced me it wasn't so bad and I should post it. So if you want to read the review of the book, which is very good, and see this (smaller!) on my work blog, go here tomorrow morning after 9:30 a.m.

If you're one of those people like my cousin Cos who is weirdly fixated on celebrating birthdays and anniversaries with round numbers (as in, today is your 49th birthday? no big deal. Today is your 50th birthday? Wow, we need to have a giant surprise party with balloons and cake and invite everyone you know whether you want to see them or not!), you will celebrate with me that this is my 100th post on this blog. Whoopie!