This is my beautiful little sister Elisabeth Joy. She is nine years old in the drawing. She started the violin when she was 5 years old and is getting very advanced. The picture is drawn in pencil from photographs I took of her. The size is 11 x 14 in. I am especially pleased with how the flowers on her dress came out. Being a violinist myself helped a lot in this and all my other drawings of people playing the violin. Knowing perfect form and the mechanics of violin playing, as well as the proportions of the instrument was key in this drawing. I believe that firsthand experience is of inestimable value in drawing anything, which is why I so enjoy drawing deer, violinists, and other things I come in contact with. The violin, I believe, is one of the hardest things to draw. I have a fascination with its form as well as with its sound. In a couple years I plan on going to school to become a luthier (maker of stringed instruments), combining my love for music and art.