YvonneBrooks, Author at Yvonne’s Artwork

The Plight of the Galgo

As you may know I love Greyhounds, I had two beautiful rescued Greyhounds, Daisy and Otis, who I have loved, and sadly lost recently. The story of the rescued greyhound is very similar to another breed, the Galgo, a Spanish hunting dog, very similar to a greyhound, part of the sighthound family, they are used for coursing in Spain. These elegant, beautiful dogs are calm and gentle, like their greyhound relatives, but in Spain they were not viewed as a family dog, but as a “thing” that is disposable. Every year thousands of Galgo and Podenco dogs, another sighthound hunting dog, are disposed of horrifically. It is believed that the more suffering the animal receives in its death, the better luck next season for the Galgueros. This mentality sees the dogs suffering the most inhumane deaths. Thrown down wells, poisoned, beaten, starved, burned or hung from trees, the higher in the tree the quicker the death for the better performing dog, the others hung from low branches, forced to support their own weight on tiptoes, until they tire and hang themselves. This is known as Pianoing. This noble breed is mentioned in ancient history, named “the Spanish greyhound”, and is thought by some popular writers to have descended from Egyptian dogs brought to the Iberian Peninsula the Phoenicians nearly 3,000 years ago.They were protected, with heavy penalties for the abuse or death of a Galgo. Over time these dogs worth has dwindled in the eyes of their hunter owners, it is a travesty that such a wonderful dog has been allowed to suffer brutality and inhumane acts of violence. In Spain they were not given any acknowledgement in the eyes of the law. As a result thousands of dogs have disappeared, unaccounted for. In today’s society Spanish Galgo rescues are pushing for change. A new law, as of January 5, 2022, amends the Civil Code to “provide that animals may no longer be considered ‘things’ but ‘sentient beings’ and family members, and that animal owners are now required to provide proper care to ensure their animals’ well-being in accordance with the characteristics of each species.” I support and sponsor dogs through Galgos Del Sol, a rescue in Murcia, Spain, run by an amazing woman, Tina Wales Solera, and an army of volunteers, Thanks to social media the word is getting around the world about this breed, and its ability to make a perfect pet. Education is the key for the future, teaching the children about respect and love for this beautiful breed. Hopefully they, and future generations will once again regard them as the noble breed they are. I wanted to create the image as a more ethereal version, so here it is black on black with an swirling mist, as the Galgo seems to be invisible to many in Spain, and they disappear without being noticed or recognised. Several animal photographers are bringing the Galgo to the eyes of the world, via social media, with exquisite photographic images. Travis Patenaude of StinkEye Photography, allowed me to use his reference image for this painting. He assists rescues in Spain, and helps with the rehoming of Galgos into the USA. As their popularity grows, Galgos are now being adopted throughout Europe, UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Scandinavia. The public opinion of Galgo and greyhounds has shifted, seeing them as worthy, loyal and perfect companion animals. They have waited many years for this, now they are being given a voice.Once again they can be a noble breed.

I have your back

“I have your back.” I don’t get to paint horses very often unfortunately, but when I saw my friends photograph of her two horses, Llewella and Persia, it shouted out to be painted. There is a local art prize exhibition in June so I decided to paint this as one of my entries. It is a large painting (910mm x 760mm) and I decided on mixed media, for me, is Oils (water-based) and Acrylic. The two work well together as they are both water based products, and the acrylic used as a base for blocking in saves time and is a fraction cheaper. I use the oils as my top layers and love the way I can layer them with brush and palette knife. The do take longer to dry but there is a fast drying medium that can be mixed with it which does help to speed up the process. Using a grid I drew the image using a 2b pencil onto the primed canvas. I like to prime my canvasses with a good quality gesso, even though the are pre primed, I find the paint seems to adhere better and more evenly. Once sketched I paint in my background using the acrylic paint. Here I have used Dioxazine purple, Indigo and Blue Violet, with a touch of Titanium White. The first horse, Llewella is blocked in using Dioxazine purple, Indigo, Blue Black, Cobalt Blue light, Magenta, and Titanium White. I try to get as much main detail in at this stage, but the more subtle shading and blending will be in the next couple of layers. It is hard not to do too much at this stage, the temptation to produce a finished image quickly has to be reigned in. I finds it easier to make changes when the whole painting is blocked in. Even if at this stage the painting looks great, I always seem to change things. I have now blocked in Persia and this is where the gorgeous warmer tones come into play, they contrast beautifully with the cool tones of Llewella. I realise that the background needs some warmth over Persia so introduce some Magenta Oil paint with the purple. The oils are evident by their sheen in the photograph. I now begin to finish Llewella using the oil paints, making much smoother blending on her body. I do have to be careful not to let the paint get “muddy,” so I spread the painting out over a few days, using the fast drying medium does helps to reduce this. Now I can focus on Persia, enhancing the beautiful warm colours. I use Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Mid, Orange, Magenta, Dioxazine purple and Titanium White in my oils, over similar acrylic colours. (The orange and Dioxazine Purple make some beautiful browns.) The beauty I find of working with the water-based oils are their buttery texture, they blend so beautifully. The other advantage is no smell and easy soap and water clean up. The drying time is about 2 to 4 weeks, longer if I use the palette knife and thick layers. Unfortunately they don’t have the large range of colours as the mineral oil paints do. When finished, I use the same varnish as I do for my acrylics, 2 coats of Atelier gloss varnish. Almost finished, and I have introduced some cool tones with the cobalt blue light into Persia’s’ mane, plus some warm highlights. A touch of white on the shine in her back and the painting is finished. I have thoroughly enjoyed painting this, I need to paint more horses I think!

My favourite things

My favourite things would definitely be these four characters, Shadow, Daisy, Otis and Charlotte, so I decided to paint their portraits and hang them together as one , as we were redecorating the Background colour was chosen to go with ours new décor. The background is “Atelier Permanent maroon”. The first step was to prime and grid the canvases. Then I sketch in the images. I use a pastel pencil as the graphite pencil can transfer to the paint, and the pastel is much easier to erase. Once my sketches were completed I under painted the canvasses using a burnt sienna, this will help give the white a slightly warmer tone, I find it useful to see where I have painted White areas too, and not missed areas of canvas leaving just primed areas. I use a watery paint to do this and paint the shaded areas in. Once the underpainting is completed I can complete my portraits. Firstly blocking in my subjects then painting in the background. I have demonstrated here with the first portrait of Daisy, the first layer of the background is painted, it needs at least two to cover properly, and I have started to paint the lighter areas of her. The following images of Otis and Charlotte show the blocked in areas, plus some detailed work, Shadow’s face is almost complete, his eyes and the black areas of his body need to be completed. When the portraits were finished I felt I needed to address each character individually, by including their favourite things. For Charlotte it is her ball. She is ball mad and has toy boxes full of them, Her favourite game is to push the ball under something, pool fence, couch, then ask you to come and get it out from under where ever she decided to put it. Once retrieved she immediately pushes it under again… and so it continues. Daisy, being a greyhound was very driven for anything fast moving, her favourite spotting moments were if she saw a rabbit or chicken, she would just stop and stare, in her younger days attempt to chase, but once she had spotted something on her walk, the next few walks she would put the brakes on in that spot and wouldn’t move until she was sure it wasn’t there. Living near orchards and paddocks this made for a long walk. Daisy’s painting shows rabbits and text saying “I Love Mum.” Otis was a very happy boy on his walks, or runs, but he had problems with his toes dislocating and had to wear special greyhound boots, called “Honey boots”. To get ready for a walk meant having his boots on, this lead to a roll on the couch, and the game of the paw of more. Boots finally on he would sprint off into the car. Otis also loved the warm sunny spots in the house and garden so his painting shows a boot and the sun. Shadow‘s favourite thing is easy… It is his Dad. He is a sensitive soul but absolutely adores his dad, he is a very loyal boy, and a wonderful companion. He missed the greyhounds when they died, but needed a dog his own size that would play and tussle, that is why Charlotte came into our family. Charlotte is an American Bull dog, Shadow is an American bulldog, Neapolitan mastiff cross. I hope you have enjoyed the process of making these portraits. My Acrylic paintings are much more detailed and more lifelike than my watercolours. They take anything up to 3 weeks to produce, depending on size. If you would like to see more Acrylic painting examples, have a browse through the gallery section for Acrylic paintings.

Oh My Stars AQC entry 2024

Oh my stars! The 2024 Australian Quilt Challenge theme was “Oh my stars!” which originally bought up images of film stars and pop idols, but I am not so good at people, so decided to go with something I know I am good at, animals. I played around with several images then settled on a dog and a mouse. It had to include stars so I decided a star shaped biscuit was the connection between the mouse and dog. I made a pattern of the head and enlarged it onto brown paper, the acetate pattern was traced from this and would be reversed for tracing the shapes needed for the iron on fusing web. The fused fabric is then cut out and using the correct side of the acetate pattern, I can place the pieces onto the calico backing. I use a Janome sewing machine, very basic, and a hoop to keep the fabric flat whist sewing as the multi directional stitching can make the fabric warp. I use embroidery thread and cottons, with bobbin fill as my bobbin thread in white for the lighter areas and black for the dark areas. As with all my textiles I only ever use straight and zig-zag stitches. Once the dogs head is complete I can cut it out from the backing, then I can begin on the mouse. I tried a few different angles for the mouse, but decided to show the biscuits he was sitting on from the eye level of the viewer, looking at the dresser face on. The background was dyed using Alcohol inks on white homespun. The diluted inks are painted on, then splashed, to replicate my watercolour painting backgrounds. This is left to line dry and then ironed to fix the ink. Constructing the quilt The mouse and dog are cut from the backing fabric and I placed them onto several different layouts, before finally deciding on a dresser that held plates. At first I had the plates way too small, so had to remake them. I settled on a part of the dyed background that complimented the dogs colours, and then began to deign the dresser. This changed a couple of times in the process. Finally I had a design I liked and a dresser I was happy with, so the finishing construction begins. Each piece was sewn onto the dyed background and the mouse and dog appliqued over the top. I added applique stars made from the dyed backing fabric, and added some buttons that were star shaped, you can never have too many stars! I wanted to tie the whole piece together and not make it look so divided by the dresser. I tried to keep the stars the same tones as the background to make them less of a focal point. At last I was finished! “Otis the great Dane is shocked to see someone had helped himself to HIS favourite star shaped biscuits. The Audacity!” The quilting and final embellishment took about 3 days, and in total the quilt took about 5 months to make. It is 90cm square. My quilt entry was accepted as a finalist and was exhibited around the Eastern states of Australia in 2024. It didn’t win any prizes but I hang it proudly on my wall at home.

A look back over 2024

Well as we say goodbye to 2024 and hello to 2025! I would like to wish you all a very happy New year. Thank you all for you continued support for my artwork, and for those who entrusted me with creating a loving memory or portrait of your pets, (several this year went overseas to the USA) A big thank you to all of you. As I look back on the last 12 months we have seen some sad changes in the Brooks household, the main one being the loss of our beautiful Greyhound, Daisy. Daisy was my muse for over 11 years, and she will be greatly missed. Luckily, I have several paintings of her dotted around the house, along with Otis who we lost at the end of 2023, so they will always be looking over us. The last year started with my shoulder surgery which meant no art for nearly 4 months, then the creation of my art quilt for the Australian Quilt Challenge “Oh my stars” where my quilt was selected as a finalist to tour the Eastern States. It has now returned and is hanging on my wall alongside “Saving Magic” It is great to see them daily hanging together. I ran a couple of workshops last year and will be planning a couple for this year too. Watch this space or follow my Facebook page for details. https://www.facebook.com/@YvonnesArtwork/ Cossack Art Awards this year was another good exhibition for me too, with a sale and a Pilbara Ports People Choice award, for “When the working day is done,” that was a wonderful award to win and one of my best paintings for the year. It is too hard to choose a best piece or best portrait as I love doing all of them. I have a couple to do for the New year, and a few for home and for sale at the cellar door at Vineyard 28 I look forward to sharing them with you on my website and on my Facebook page. Have a very safe, prosperous, and healthy 2025 everyone.

Watercolours: Lets start with the basics part 2

What to consider when buying watercolour paper PAPER When you start watercolour painting there are so many things to consider, paper becomes a personal preference as to make, surface and weight. The traditional and most common paper to paint on is Cotton, or cotton and wood pulp (known as RAG content,) these make up most of the papers, but also bamboo and agave are becoming popular. Watercolour paper is heavily sized. This sizing is like a glue that seals the paper and stops its surface absorbing all your paint. Artist quality paper has good archival quality meaning your painting will last. There are different formats available: sheets, pads and blocks. Sheets need stretching, using watercolour paper tape, and can be cut to customised sizes. Pads are usually spiral bound or gummed on one edge, pre-cut to a certain size. Blocks are gummed on 4 sides with a small opening to remove the page once painted, these don’t require stretching and will remain flat when the image is dry. They have less sheets than the pads but give a stretched paper finish. Stretching paper prevents the paper cockling (buckling) when dry, it will stick cockle while wet but will dry flat, unstretched paper will cockle and this will remain as the painting dries. WEIGHTS OF PAPER The weight of the paper is important. Watercolour paper is mostly made in different weights, shown here in gsm (grams per square metre for metric), or British imperial lbs (pounds per ream) The weight indicated on the paper pack or pad is the weight of a full ream, so 140lb is the weight of 500 sheets measuring 22” by 30”. 190gsm/ 90lb, 300gsm/140lb, 425gsm/200lb and 640gsm/300lb. 185/190gsm is thin and needs stretching, 640gsm is similar in thickness to card and therefore doesn’t usually need stretching. In summary, and as a rough guide, I recommend that paper of or under 140lb needs to be stretched to avoid the paper buckling. PAPER SURFACE What the difference is between NOT, hot pressed & rough papers? These terms refer to the surface of the paper and its texture. Hot pressed papers have a smooth surface made by passing the paper between two hot cylinders. Great for lots of very fine detail such as botanical paintings. Cold Pressed or NOT (as in not Hot Pressed) papers have a slightly textured surface which is great for most types of painting. Rough the roughest surface. This surface is great for painting landscapes where a more textured finish is required. Telling the front from the back of your paper sheets can be difficult, however if your paper has a watermark, it will read correctly on the right side when held to the light. Usually there’s is little difference and either side can be used, but the right side will have more “tooth” or texture. Not every make of paper is the same and you will find a paper you prefer and a weight you are comfortable with. Stretching your paper You will need… a board (MDF 9mm thick is a good size) large enough to take your selected piece of paper. Paper, watercolour paper, ( as a rule paper over or around 600gms does not require stretching) watercolour stretching paper tape, gummed on one side and easy to tear, KEEP AS DRY AS POSIBLE when stored! Clean sponge Cold, clean Water How to …. Dampen the board by wiping with a damp sponge. Tear selected lengths of tape to fit your paper with overhang, Check your paper for the correct way round, look for embossed paper marks or watermarked name. Soak your paper well on both sides, you can use a hose or watering can for large pieces, or for smaller pieces a sink/bath of cold water, submerge your paper. Drain the excess water slightly. Place paper evenly on the board, some buckling will happen, try to keep it flat but don’t pull the paper flat, or try and smoothen out the buckles. Dampen the tape with a wet sponge. Don’t soak it, just LIGHTLY wipe with the sponge, don’t rub hard or you will remove the glue. Place the tape so half its width is over the edge of the paper and press down, do this for all four sides. Leave somewhere warm to dry. It should dry nice and taut/flat. To remove your painting from the board when finished, run a cutting blade halfway through the brown tape where it covers your paper, if you give yourself a 5mm margin where there is paper behind your tape, you will find the tape stuck to the board will remove easily . Excess tape can be removed by soaking it with water, then using a scraper remove the softened tape, wash the board with soapy water to remove the glue, let the board dry. You are now ready to stretch another piece of paper.

Watercolours: Lets start with the basics

Usually just a few good brushes will do, the choice is split into Synthetic or Natural hair, personally I prefer the synthetic, they are cheaper, easier to replace and work well for watercolours. I find the synthetic holds its shape well, and the hairs are slightly firmer than the natural hair brushes. Natural hair brushes hold larger amounts of water and are great for mop brushes. Natural hair brushes are more expensive, BRUSHES ROUND This brush is very versatile, comes in a good range of sizes and is the one most often used, the round refers to the round profile at the tip of the ferrule, the metal bit before the hairs…and they taper to a fine tip, ideal for detail. by applying pressure as you paint you can spread the brush hairs to widen the stroke. (You can create fine detail with any size brush if you have a nice fine point, so you don’t have to us the smallest brush available to create small fine detail.) Mop brushes or Quills Great for painting very large areas or wetting areas for wet-on-wet applications. Quills have extra large, round body of hair that tapers to a fine point. Mops have densely packed hairs in a rounded shape. Riggers or Liner brushes Riggers are similar to rounds but have much longer hair. They’re perfect for painting long, fine lines. You need more fluid to create a longer stroke. Flat/Chisel or Filbert Flat brushes can be useful for covering large areas or for creating angular strokes. Use the large flat side of the brush for the best coverage, or twist to use the edge of the brush for thinner lines. Filberts have a similar profile to flat brushes. However – instead of having quite sharp, defined edges at the tip – they are gently rounded. Their oval shape creates a round stroke useful for painting petals and blending. Fan Fan brushes have tips where the fibres fan out into a canopy formation. They’re great for painting special effects, (Foliage or grass) creating texture. PAINTS These come in either tubes or pans, student grade or Artist grade. Tubes are good for larger areas; pans are good for travel or smaller areas. Student grades are cheaper, have a smaller range of colours and contain cheaper pigments or artificial pigments rather than the cadmiums and cobalt, found in artist grade. There is a huge difference in price, but I find the Windsor and Newton Cotman range has good colour vibrancy and a good range of colours. The word HUE after a colour means it’s a cheaper pigment used to create the same colour. Artist grade is more expensive, has a wider choice of colours and uses real pigments, they come in “series”, ranging from 1 to 4 or 5, 1 being the cheapest, 4 or 5 the dearest purely because of the pigments and minerals used, e.g. Cadmium and Cobalt. These paints tend to go further, are more vibrant, and are smoother in texture. Opacity Each colour has a level of transparency, affecting how it will look with other colours, for example yellow is very transparent, layered over or under red will make that colour more Orange. Some tubes in both watercolour and acrylic paint will have symbols on the tubes to depict the transparency. An empty square or circle = transparent A Half-filled circle or square = semi-transparent A solid circle or square = opaque. Permanence rating and Lightfastness Referring to the amount of fade over time in museum conditions. AA = extremely permanent A = permanent B = moderately durable Lightfastness is usually I or II (I is the lowest) and refers again to the amount of fade over 100years in museum conditions, both numbers are considered good for Artists.

My Art Journey begins

London Road School of Art and Design, Northwich, Cheshire My art journey begins as a teenager ready to leave school after my O’ levels in 1978, I was interviewed by our school careers advisor. He asked “What was my typing and shorthand like?.” Pretty rubbish, “So what did I think about hairdressing?” Was this it… secretary or hairdresser…was this all a Grammar school Careers Advisor could recommend? “What was I good at? What did I love doing?” Well that was easy, Art… loved it! I had been creating art and craft all my life, thanks to good old “Blue Peter” and “Vision On”. Valerie Singleton and Tony Hart had a lot to answer for regarding my love of art. “Well… go to art school then! Here’s some numbers to ring and the names of people to speak to. Bye. Next!” So I went home, not offended by the lack of enthusiasm of my careers advisor, but with ideas of going to art college. On the final School Parents evening Mum asked my art teacher if she thought I’d get in to Art College, she replied “Oh yes the standard’s not that high!”well obviously my standard got me though the interview, So London Road School of Art and design, Northwich, Cheshire… here I come!I attended a 1 year Ground Course, where we covered everything, art, design, 3D design, woodwork, metalwork, photography, ceramics, printing, and life drawing. I took my A level art a year early and passed.This lead to a second year at London Road on the on the Foundation Course, covering everything again in more depth and with art history added. It was a great 2 years. I learnt so much, more than I ever imagined I could do. I loved it. The lecturers were amazing, approachable and enthusiastic. This course prepared me for Polytechnic. Coventry Lanchester Polytechnic Art and Design building Priory Hall student accommodation, Coventry Lanchester Polytechnic Coventry Cathedral UK I decided to study Graphic Design, against my tutors advice, he wanted me to go for 3D design, but I was accepted to my first choice Coventry Lanchester Polytechnic. I was born in Coventry so felt I was going to a place that meant something to me, and the course looked promising. I was living on the top floor of the Priory Hall G block, one of three accommodation blocks. I had great views over Coventry and the swimming baths behind. we were right opposite the Coventry Cathedral ruins, Bombed during WW2, and the new Cathedral. The next 3 years went in a flash. I made life long friends and learnt skills that I would use throughout my artistic career. I think perhaps a fine art degree would have been more suited to me, as I found graphics very rigidly structured and to me, claustrophobic. I didn’t always create typical “Graphic Design” projects and was not encouraged to colour out side of the lines as I thought outside of the box, as it were. I found a few of the tutors unhelpful in comparison to my foundation course, they were hard to please and to find having set the brief, then disappeared. By the end of my 3 years I felt rather lost and disillusioned. One thing it did do was teach me a myriad of drawing, illustration and technical skills. The course covered computer design but using punch cards. It was 1980, no computer involvement in the design process in those days. I didn’t do very well at that part of the course. There was no quick way to print either.. we had to hand set our typefaces for printing, we had Typeface books with different size type face so we could trace words on to layouts. We learnt about using ems and ens, point sizes and spacing, plus hundreds of typefaces to think about. It wasn’t easy, but I remember a sense of achievement when you saw the printed page., until you noticed a letter the wrong way around….I passed my 3 year course with a BA(hons) Unfortunately in 1983 jobs were scarce. In 1985 I swapped career paths and started a State Registered Nurse training. I dabbled with various art and crafts throughout the next few years, and emigrated to Australia as a Registered Nurse, with a good hobby. Unfortunately my health meant I had to stop work, and art became my lifeline and my saviour. I think my style now is best described as illustrative, and the skills I use today were definitely founded in those 5 years study at art college. I now teach art to a small group of ladies, and do my commissions and workshops, If I had my time again I would have gone on to do my teaching degree, straight after my art degree, and looked to teach art at polytechnic or university. I have the best hobby I could ever wish for. I found that animals were my best work, and I love peoples response to commissions I do for them. My style has adapted over the years, it means I never get bored. I always have something I can do to fill my time, that is fun and rewarding.

Paint Your Pet Workshop July 2024

Well another successful pet portrait workshop completed.. I love doing these workshops, everyone produces such great artwork. It reminds me of why I paint in watercolours this way, and why I teach others my technique and colour theory. Everyone interprets this lesson differently, and everyone creates wonderful artwork, and it’s a delight to see them go home with wonderful images. Some come to my workshop unsure if they can draw, or having never painted before. In the workshop they are taught the advantages of using a grid to enlarge the chosen photograph, this makes the first part so much easier. It is a simple, yet valuable tool. You can draw any image to any size you want, even reduce it, if you want to. The hardest part is definitely getting their heads around the colours they will be using over the next day and a half. The background gives the students a chance to experience the colours and how they mix, or in some cases, how you don’t want them to mix. (Bengal rose and greens don’t make a nice colour, browns and blues will go grey) but used in the right order the colours will blend beautifully.I demonstrate using a black and white subject if I can, in these portraits the colours can go totally against the grain. For example, black is made of blue, green, pink, purple and indigo. For tan, or brown colourings, I demonstrate with the individuals portrait, using Australian red gold, burnt sienna, pinks and purples and the beautiful quinacridone sienna. The workshop is held over two days, first is drawing and background, second is painting the subject. Towards the end of the second day there is a section where I cover eyes and noses, as there is a special way to tackle the eyes to get that reflective, glassy look, and noses can be tackled in a series of layers. Finally the ink penwork and final whitework, (dots in eyes, highlights on the nose, whiskers etc) all done in the last 10 minutes. Here are 5 portraits, my demo piece of Shadow and Charlotte is last. If you would like to be included in one of my workshops, drop me a message. I hold around 4 a year. Space is limited as I only take 6 students at a time.

Yvonne’s Artwork

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