I'll have to try that last one Jeff thanks for the instructions. It is nice and subtle but effective.

I actually really love your "over cooked" version the best. I really like your original photo too...but I like always like to see something a little different than the norm.I strive for that in my art as well (although don't always achieve it). For me, it is just a real treat to look at something for the first time and think, this isn't like the hundreds of other nice photos of a puppy I've seen...this one goes a bit further.

I am starting to see a lot of images done with similar treatment and I suppose at some point it won't seem "fresh" anymore but I think it worked really well with this particular image and worked great. The loss of detail in areas doesn't bother me, I think it looks quite artsy.