Still working on those black canvases and loving it.  Bob and guitar 16x20 acrylic

Every time I decide I never want to do one of these again I see something I have to try out.  This time it was a basset hound I saw on youtube, and realized I didn't have one in my collection.  I don't have lots of breeds, since I only paint on commission.  I get mostly mutts.   This guy was just too cool, and he was a European basset, I had no idea there was a distinction.  Those continental hounds have a whole lot more of everything, more wrinkles, longer ears...  So this is not a commission, just a composite of a number of them.    After I made the decision and had a sketch I looked around for a canvas and only had black ones.  I have no idea when I got those or why, but you make do, so I sketched it in with chalk and painted up the underpainting with just black and white and it went even faster than my usual technique.  It did take several white layers to get to where I could put in the sky, but a small price to pay.  After that I wanted to try black again so I used my cat Marianna and gave her a fantasy kitten in a Vigee Lebrun mother and child piece.  Mari would have made a great momcat, but she was spayed at a young age and never got the chance.  She brings live things to my son night after night and drops them by his bed then purrs as she hunts it down again and murders it.  He refuses to learn to hunt and catches them when he can and releases them while keeping her locked up.  I'm sure she is very frustrated but she keeps trying.