A Little Drooping Holiday Spirit

A few years ago I started making my own holiday cards, featuring some of my art.  As with most things I do, however, once I get started on something like that, I have to outdo myself each year. 

This year, I spent some time with my lumpy Basset hound Simon and some holiday trimmings to get in the mood and get the right image to use for a painting.  Simon has a certain droopy hound quality that reminds me of the dog from The Grinch, which was sort of what I had in mind. I would have considered Phoebe for the experiment since I haven't painted her yet, but she won't sit still for a second, much less walk around the house with a set of antlers on her head.  Simon, incidentally, will wear the antlers, or a green elf hat we have, for hours until Phoebe takes them off him.  He's such a good sport. 

Two full days of painting later, and voila!  My 2011 holiday card painting.  Even after spending all that time working on it, it still cracks me up.  I love how his deadpan droopy Simon expression came through.