Digital Post-Impressionist Portrait

This is the original photo...

This is the final product.  I initially liked the idea of this assignment, but I wasn't pleased with the final result.  In the picture, you can't see the mouth or eyes very well and the collar is way too big.  I tried to shade the dogs body, but you can't really tell.  I think the problem was that there was too much grass in the background and it kind of took over.  I should have added some flowers so the grass isn't so green.