His Royal Highness

I decided to give acrylic paints another go, on something other than birds for once.  My long-haired dachshund Truman was posing ever so regally on his recliner recently, with his favorite purple blanket as backdrop.  I thought he made an excellent subject and I was fast enough to snap a photo before he moved.

Since he's mostly black (with scattered bits of blonde and reddish-brown fur), I painted the entire canvas black first, which turned out to be quite useful as it sure was easy to tell where the darkest darks were going to be in the painting.  I wound up going over a lot of the fur, adding highlights and midtones, so very little of the original black remains -- just enough to make everything else stand out.

I still prefer watercolor but am not averse to using acrylics now and then.

Close-up: