I decided to close out my 2017 Lady of the Month with a portrait of one of my dearest friends, Kelly Pelka! I met Kelly around 2007 or so through our mutual friend Naomi. Shortly after we met we started a weekly drawing group and would take field trips around Chicago to visit galleries and support other local artists. She invited me to be a youth art mentor at Right Brained Studio where I taught sewing and cartooning classes to kids. She provided me with a lot of guidance as I learned the ropes. When we both lived in Chicago we spent time together pretty much at least once a week and had many great discussions about life and art. Recently I took a trip out to Portland, Oregon to visit her after moving away from Chicago over five years ago. It was like our friendship hadn’t skipped a beat! I’m very excited to see what Kelly works on in the coming years. You can check out her art here, or follow @kelly_pelka_art on Instagram.