diff --git a/GPy/plotting/abstract_plotting_library.py b/GPy/plotting/abstract_plotting_library.py
index 2bbb8dc4..35353f36 100644
--- a/GPy/plotting/abstract_plotting_library.py
+++ b/GPy/plotting/abstract_plotting_library.py
@@ -57,9 +57,19 @@ class AbstractPlottingLibrary(object):
         return self.__defaults
         #===============================================================================
     
-    def get_new_canvas(self, projection='2d', legend=True, **kwargs):
+    def figure(self, nrows, ncols, **kwargs):
+        """
+        Get a new figure with nrows and ncolumns subplots.
+        Does not initialize the canvases yet.
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError("Implement all plot functions in AbstractPlottingLibrary in order to use your own plotting library")
+    
+    def get_new_canvas(self, projection='2d', figure=None, col=1, row=1, **kwargs):
         """
         Return a canvas, kwargupdate for your plotting library. 
+
+        if figure is not None, create a canvas in the figure
+        at subplot position (col, row).
         
         This method does two things, it creates an empty canvas
         and updates the kwargs (deletes the unnecessary kwargs)
@@ -74,7 +84,7 @@ class AbstractPlottingLibrary(object):
         """
         raise NotImplementedError("Implement all plot functions in AbstractPlottingLibrary in order to use your own plotting library")
 
-    def show_canvas(self, canvas, plots, xlabel=None, ylabel=None, zlabel=None, title=None, xlim=None, ylim=None, zlim=None, **kwargs):
+    def show_canvas(self, canvas, plots, xlabel=None, ylabel=None, zlabel=None, title=None, xlim=None, ylim=None, zlim=None, legend=True, **kwargs):
         """
         Show the canvas given. 
         plots is a dictionary with the plots
diff --git a/GPy/plotting/matplot_dep/plot_definitions.py b/GPy/plotting/matplot_dep/plot_definitions.py
index 598482d3..4d838722 100644
--- a/GPy/plotting/matplot_dep/plot_definitions.py
+++ b/GPy/plotting/matplot_dep/plot_definitions.py
@@ -42,7 +42,12 @@ class MatplotlibPlots(AbstractPlottingLibrary):
         super(MatplotlibPlots, self).__init__()
         self._defaults = defaults.__dict__
     
-    def get_new_canvas(self, projection='2d', **kwargs):
+    def figure(self, rows=1, cols=1, **kwargs):
+        self.rows = rows
+        self.cols = cols 
+        return plt.figure(**kwargs)
+    
+    def get_new_canvas(self, projection='2d', figure=None, col=1, row=1, **kwargs):
         if projection == '3d':
             from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D
         elif projection == '2d':
@@ -50,13 +55,13 @@ class MatplotlibPlots(AbstractPlottingLibrary):
         if 'ax' in kwargs:
             ax = kwargs.pop('ax')
         elif 'num' in kwargs and 'figsize' in kwargs:
-            ax = plt.figure(num=kwargs.pop('num'), figsize=kwargs.pop('figsize')).add_subplot(rows, cols, which, projection=projection) 
+            fig = self.figure(num=kwargs.pop('num'), figsize=kwargs.pop('figsize')).add_subplot(111, projection=projection) 
         elif 'num' in kwargs:
-            ax = plt.figure(num=kwargs.pop('num')).add_subplot(111, projection=projection)
+            ax = self.figure(num=kwargs.pop('num')).add_subplot(111, projection=projection)
         elif 'figsize' in kwargs:
-            ax = plt.figure(figsize=kwargs.pop('figsize')).add_subplot(111, projection=projection)
+            ax = self.figure(figsize=kwargs.pop('figsize')).add_subplot(111, projection=projection)
         else:
-            ax = plt.figure().add_subplot(111, projection=projection)
+            ax = self.figure().add_subplot(111, projection=projection)
             
         return ax, kwargs
     
diff --git a/travis_tests.py b/travis_tests.py
index 2d71de97..06d54de6 100644
--- a/travis_tests.py
+++ b/travis_tests.py
@@ -38,5 +38,5 @@ matplotlib.rcParams[u'figure.figsize'] = (4,3)
 matplotlib.rcParams[u'text.usetex'] = False
 
 import nose 
-nose.main('GPy', defaultTest='GPy/testing/plotting_tests.py')  
+nose.main('GPy', defaultTest='GPy/testing')