Hand painted "Meow meow"

Dahlia and I became friends in March of 2021. Let me tell you about Dahlia. She is an 11 year girl who is diagnosed with Dup15q syndrome as well as nonverbal autism. I am Laurie, the person blessed with being Dahlia's advocate and partner on this adventure. Dahlia + Laurie= Dahlrie. Dahlia loves to swim, go to playgrounds and many other things. But, painting is one of her favorite things to do. Painting is Dahlia's way of expressing things she cannot say. There are lots of bright colorful days but some days are brown. Dahlia and I create together. She creates backgrounds. I add foregrounds. We had painted and painted and painted...and painted. We had boxes full of our creations. I began wondering what we were going to do with all of these paintings. Maybe decorate all of our families and friends houses...Could we sell them and use the money to buy more art supplies? Yes! And all of sudden we have Dahlrie Art, our own little business. A business that hopefully brings enough revenue to buy more art supplies and brings smiles to people's faces at the same time.