Ritratto di Bimbo (Portrait of a Child) Finished

This is the finished piece:

In case you were wondering about the symbolism of the border...here it goes:
Gardenias: Joy Daisy: Innocence and beauty.
Stephanotis:...well, my initial research told me it meant good luck...but of course after finishing coloring the whole thing, I found out it means desire for marriage and travel...the first meaning clearly not appropriate to the theme...ooops! But the desire to travel to meet the family that lives in Italy of course applies...so, in a sense, I am saved! ;).
Tooth fairy: Pit like Bella grew his teeth late...the tooth fairy will wait a bit, meanwhile I put her here as a propitious figure and...because I like drawing little fairies so much! ;).
Baby animals: they are so cute and so is he! In addition, his lovey is a super cute little rabbit, Gigi. Grandma brought one over for Bella as well. His name is Bunny Boo...
Tiger: Pit was born in the year of the tiger.
Pacifier: another thing Pit and Bella have in common is their undying passion for the pacifier, hence the pacifier club emblem in the right hand corner. We all need to work on growing out of the habit!

What about the necklace? There is a belief among the grandmothers in my family (although from the web it looks likes it pretty main stream...) that wearing an amber necklace helps dentition. So of course both babies got one. Interestingly enough, it looks like this tradition goes back centuries. Here is Rubens' son wearing one!

As always, thanks for reading!

After almost a year of silence...

...and sleep deprivation, here I am again!

Baby Bella. is growing beautifully and she is the delight of my life.

A moment ago, while reading an old post in which I stated that I was getting my act together I laughed! I surely believed that at the time, but it was before I went back to my full time job! In reality, nowadays I have little time for anything non-family related, but I took advantage of the Christmas holidays to draw something for Bella's new bedroom (we also moved to a bigger house...what a year!).

It's a portrait of her little cousin, Pit, who is two year older than her. He is an adorable child and we can't wait for the two little ones to finally meet (he lives in Italy, we in the USA and unfortunately we haven't had a chance to visit yet...). Meanwhile, I thought  this would help to remind little I. of her family overseas.

Here is the process...in the next days, I'll try to take a picture of the finished piece.