Sneaky Peek, Miss LuLi second stages of Artwork

First two stages of my new pet portrait....... one more stage to go I think

After my last post of the new pet portrait, "Miss LuLi the gorgeous greyhound" I decided to show you the progression of the artwork so far. First I had put the base colours in but decided that I needed a ground colour. Not only to add interest but LuLi has a very white snout and it was going to get lost in the cream paper. I do want the overall look to be a bit minimalist and I was just intending the painting to include the head and a few other "character" motifs. However its very difficult for a maximalist to pretend to be minimalist, so I shall go somewhere in between..... keeping the head very detailed while adding the character motifs in a more loose and suggestive technique. ..... I shall post the final painting some time this week.