This is the picture that kicks off my new square mixed-media sketchbook (Bee Paper Company, 6 x 6 inches). The photographic reference is Betsy herself, as a not-quite 3-and-a-half-month old puppy. That photo was taken indoors, in the evening (see picture at right). What I did was 'transfer' her (along with her beanbag) out into the lanai, where my fuschia and Alsobia dianthiflora were hanging, though not in the proximity seen here. The blue swashes between them represent the white voile curtain on the other side of the lanai door. Beyond we glimpse a shaded fence and a vague profusion of foliage -- but I'm not aiming here for precise realism or even particularly convincing perspective. What I most wanted was to capture the character of my wonderful puppy and my favourite hanging plants. The thing is, I coloured the Alsobia in muted usual olive tones because that’s how it looked at the time, even though my camera shows the leaves as more like the bright green fruitier Castelvetrano olives I’ve been known to enjoy.