Acrylics Archives - 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.

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.

Painting Chrome and Paintwork

Making a motorcycle come to life I love the challenge of painting chrome and paintwork. So many reflections, so much detail, I love the challenge of realistic painting, it has to be done over time, carefully, examining the photos for every detail. This was my husbands bike, a Harley Davidson Ultra Limited, this painting was his Christmas present and was painted over a 6 month period. It is Acrylic on canvas block. It is a large painting, and even though canvases are primed when you buy them, I do prefer to add a couple of extra coats of gesso primer before I start. Making a start Once the sketch is completed I start blocking in the backgrounds. I use 3 colours for this one, that will compliment the bike, an Atelier red-black, burnt sienna and Atelier brown-black. I begin by blocking in the chrome parts of the bike with a couple of colours that will form the main reflections, Australian sky blue and unbleached titanium for the pavement reflections. By doing this it gives me the areas to focus on first as they are the most complicated, and require the most concentration. I have to keep reminding myself, “paint what you see, not what you think you see!” The headlights, driving lights and tops of the forks are starting to take shape, I add more detail and depth into the reflections, plus just a touch of colour for the indicators. Slowly the images start to take shape, at least with Acrylic it is easier to correct if you go wrong. I can now start to work down the bike to the forks and front fender. I have airbrushed in the windshield for now, and then I can make a start on the mid section of the bike, the engine guard, foot boards and highway pegs. Basic blocking in helps to map out the areas of chrome, refining and adjusting depth of reflection. It is starting to get complicated Now the fun really starts, the engine bay is mostly black with some chrome, but there are nuts and bolts and chrome reflections that seem to melt into each other. I don’t use “Black,” I use a mix of Blue-Black and Burnt Umber, maybe a tiny bit of Prussian blue. It takes a lot of concentration and patience to paint this part. The air cleaner took nearly 4 hours alone, and the engine guard with the highway peg took about the same! I did block in some colour for the paintwork to see how the colours looked against the chrome, as its easier to adjust my palette now, rather than later. I continue working on the exhaust system and the chrome at the back of the bike. Wheels are my least favourite part to do as there is so much detail to paint, and so much that can look wrong. At Least this bike isn’t like mine, a HD Softail Deluxe which has spokes! Adding colour is always fun. I was worried that I would have trouble getting the paint colouring correct, the bike’s colour changed at various times of the day. It was a mix of Permanent Orange, Red gold, Yellow, crimson, burnt Sienna and Red-Black. The paintwork has a gold fleck in the paint which was very yellow in the photographs. I paid great attention to detail in the shading and shapes formed by reflections on the paint, it was hard getting a smooth finish with just a brush, but by working in several layers in managed to get the look I was after. Almost finished, the end is in sight! The seat and passenger seat are painted in blue black and Australian sky blue mixed. Highlights of white are added to the Australian sky blue to create a sheen, with hints of white for the glossy highlights on the seams and edges. The tyres are painted using a warm grey, mixed from Blue-black, a hint of burnt umber and unbleached titanium. And there you have it! One finished painting of a beautiful machine. The floor under the bike was airbrushed using orange and a bit of yellow, with an ellipse of brown black under the tyre for shadow. Once the paint has cured It is varnished with two coats of Atelier Gloss varnish.

Saying Goodbye

Saying Goodbye. Losing Otis To lose a dog is hard, its a raw emotion that affects everyone in different ways, but there is no doubt, its a very hard decision many of us have to make. As followers from my Facebook page will know, I recently lost my Greyhound, Otis. I had been in his life for 7.5 years out of his 13 years on this planet. He came to me as an emergency Foster for “Busselton Greyhound Awareness” in Western Australia, they spotted him on Gumtree as a “Free to good home”. (They had initially fostered him when he finished racing, and recognised him immediately). They couldn’t get the owner to contact them, so asked would I try. I got a response and said I would foster him until he found him a good home. They dropped him off at my home, he lay on the cool floor on a hot, January day, and just stayed there. As they left he made no move to say goodbye or even raise his head as they went out of the door. It was so sad. This boy had resigned himself to being “Left behind.” I found out his story was similar to his first Adoption, a blended family adopted him and had him for roughly a year, then when they split up, the dog went back to BGA for foster. What was wrong with this beautiful, Blue-Brindle, long boy? That’s just it, there was NOTHING wrong with him, he was sad, and he was just waiting to see what came next. Well, I came next. There was no way this boy was going anywhere again where someone else could let him down, so I made a promise, come hell or high water, he was staying with me for the rest of his life. I already had a greyhound, Daisy, who was 8, and a gorgeous boy Harvey, a Heinz 57, with a super gentle nature, who was 10. Such a handsome greyhound Adjusting to a new home Several days went by and Otis was slowly interacting, but most of the time he just lay on the floor, he would wag his tail, a thump – thump on the wooden floors, and raise his head if you called his name. He walked like he was on a mission, no time to stop, while Harvey made his way through orange orchards, with Daisy trotting alongside, Otis was quiet, but he was safe. Fast forward two years…. I had noticed subtle changes, he would rather be in the room with me, he was interacting with Daisy. By this time, I had lost Harvey, another soul dog who is still carried in my heart, so Otis’s role changed, it was his turn to be man of the house, but under Daisy… she was definitely the boss! Then one day as I was in the art room, he came looking for me, I was deep in thought and was nudged by a wet nose on the elbow, he made me jump, he snuggled in for a 3-minute pat and back rub, then shook, and went back to his couch. This began to happen more and more, then after 3 years he actually got on the same couch as me. As I returned home from… anywhere… he would great me at the gate with the happiest of playful dances, followed by zoomies round the yard, more playful dances and then off to the couch. His transition from solo dog to family pet had been made in his head. I think he realised he wasn’t going anywhere, WE were HIS pack, he was here to STAY. Acccepting new family members A new Dad and Brother I met my husband, Paul as lockdown hit, so when he moved in Otis accepted him and his puppy, Shadow, his new brother, his new Dad, willingly. Otis was a happy boy, social butterfly, very cheeky and a lazy couch potato, but the best ambassador for the Greyhound breed. Otis wowed people, they fell in love with him, he was soft furred and stunning looking. He loved his walks, he got so excited, would leap into the car and await his harness being put on, and his hunnyboots. He was dressed for an outing! He would follow one lady, Deb, around the park in her mobility scooter, actively seeking her out, she had treats and lot of cuddles, he was in heaven. He had canine mates who he loved to greet, then he was off on his human rounds, peemails and treats. It’s time Otis fell whilst running and injured his back 3 years ago, nerve damage left him wobbly in his legs and clumsy. He carried injuries and problems with dislocated toes from his racing days. An infected toe injury turned to septicaemia, despite all our efforts to keep in clean and treated, it took a toll on his Kidneys. He nearly died. He was on pain relief and heart medication in the end, and it didn’t slow him down or stop him, he still had little wobbly trots and would flash you the cheekiest smile if you tried to make him slow down as he zoomed past. Unfortunately, all this took a toll on his aged body. Otis hid illness well, ever stoic, but cut a toe nail or remove a bandage and get the howl of doom in return, yet when he was in pain, real pain he was silent. He was quiet and slow over the last couple of days, then deteriorated quickly. A trip to the vet for, we thought, something to stop his nausea and vomiting, it led to blood tests revealing Kidney failure. Otis was tired, he was ill, and he was in pain. We held him gently, yet firmly in our arms and said the hardest goodbye I have ever said. Our hearts were broken, our loving boy had gone. Thank you to everyone who expressed sadness and messaged, he was so loved by

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