The idea behind this painting is very simple,  harlequin dog on harlequin background.   Originally I had planned to put the front door and hedges that surrounded the path in,  but the black and white is so clean and crisp that any more detail and colour would have distracted from what is there.

The challenge for me was in placing a black and white dog on a black and white background with all the subtle shadows that you get within,  and not losing too much of the form of the dog to the background. Harlequin Great Danes are the most prized amongst Great Danes as they are difficult to breed, putting two harlequins together does not guarantee harlequin puppies. They come quite often from black or grey parents as those are the only colours acceptable for a harlequin to be, blue merle harlequins are not acceptable in the show ring, which is a shame because they are very attractive looking dogs.