V. is now 2 years old, but this is how she looked as a newborn. The reference photo shows her sleeping on Daddy's white T-shirt. At the time I saw the picture, I was looking for inspiration for the annual "Venus Envy" exhibit. In the past, I've used the ideas in Botticelli's "Birth of Venus". Seeing the folds in that T-shirt reminded me of the ripples in Venus' sea shell, and looking at V.'s sleeping pose made me wonder about her dreams. Dreams. "Beautiful Dreamer." The title was born, the background derived from images in that old song. (detail of the drawing/ graphite on rag paper)- gloria

Our grandson, Bryson, sure doesn't look like this anymore. This pose was captured when he was about 8 years old at his local children's museum. Hard to believe that he will graduate from high school in a few months.-gloria

I've instructed art classes at the local museum for a number of years, mostly drawing classes for adults. Graphite is a great starting point. Maybe that's part of the reason that graphite drawings are "under-rated." Pencils are pretty basic- who doesn't have a pencil? It's up to the artist to use them for something unique. I like to play with words and images (I drive myself crazy with creating a title that I then have to live up by creating its drawing!) Last year was a call for entry for a food-related piece of art. It was also the year for all that hullabaloo about a book titled "Fifty Shades of Gray." Pencil was the perfect choice for the medium. The fun began as I found image ideas that related to the number fifty, the word "shades", and the color grey. I created a composition from the ideas (oh, the food part is a bottle of mustard and a textured loaf of bread), and the result was "Fifty Shades of Gray Poupon".- gloria