New Portrait - Japanese Chin

I've started a new portrait commission of a sweet little Japanese Chin.  Unfortunately, this is a memorial portrait and I'm always so sad to get these as it means the dear pet has departed.  This little girl is being done in pastel on Ampersand PastelBord at about life size which is 8x10 inches.  I haven't prepared any of my own boards in an 8x10 size and since I had one already from Ampersand, I'm using it.  I'll also use the glassless framing process to seal it as it has to be shipped to California - all the way from one coast of the US to the other - and I don't want to chance that it will get damaged.  I'm using my usual pastels:  Richeson sticks for the layout and color blocking, Rembrandt soft pastels for most of it and pastel pencils for details.

The reference photo was from a camera phone and isn't the greatest so I'm going to just have to do the best I can with it.  I just started it this morning and am making good progress with it so I hope to finish it in the next day or so if not sooner.  It's a rainy, cold and nasty day so there's not a lot I can do except paint (or clean house) so I will work on it as much as I can.  

I'll keep you posted on the results.