Black Tuesday - the Painting that Wouldn't Die

Too bad it's not Friday, because Black Tuesday sounds a little weird for the title to this painting.  I should call it the Painting That Wouldn't Die because I attempted this one three times!  First I painted it and I didn't like the range of values - too many higher values.  Then I narrowed the value range but the painting ended up all purple and blue - UGLY.  So then I figured it was just a "wiper" and I wiped most of it off with turpentine - all except the eyes because I really liked those.  Well, after having those eyes watch me for a week, this morning I thought I would have another go at painting this black cat.  I stuck with a mostly really dark black (which of course is not black out of the tube but a mix of alizarin crimson, viridian and indigo), with just the tiniest bits of grey to indicate a few features.  So it is all eyes and whiskers on this one, and I finally really like how it came out.
Here is the final version ...  I'm calling it Black Tuesday.

 This was the original attempt ...

 And the attempted correction ...

 The "wiper" with the haunting eyes ...

 The photograph all this madness grew out of ...

 And once more, Black Tuesday.

If at first you don't succeed, keep painting until you go crazy!!