George Rodrigue painted Black Bayou during a period in his career when he gained increased recognition for his Blue Dog paintings. Black Bayou both refers back to the landscapes of Rodrigue’s early period and demonstrates that the artist continued to take up the natural world as subject matter even after the success of the Blue Dog. 

Black Bayou includes the artist’s signature dark oak tree, light emerging from the scene’s background, and lush land in the foreground. The painting also features brighter shades of blue than the colors Rodrigue may have used in his landscape paintings from the 1960s or 70s. The shades of blue in Black Bayou are similar to those found in Blue Dog paintings, showing how the Blue Dog informed other aspects of Rodrigue’s art.