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Why did I choose the title Sweet Life for this painting? I have a galgo Espanol (Spanish greyhound) who I adopted in 2018. I have met many wonderful people who rescue and rehabilitate these ex-hunting dogs from Spain, and work very hard to find them their forever homes or 'Sweet Life'.  This, even with the pandemic has not stopped and not one but two consignments of galgos have arrived by road this winter to find their sweet life in Finland.

I am a Brit living in Finland and with my lovely galgo we have both found our sweet life in our adopted country. I am from an old country full of tradition and my oil painting style is traditional, but I live in a young country which embraces the modern contemporary. I gave myself a goal this year to do more acrylic painting in a looser style.  I used acrylic color for this piece as it dries quickly so I could be bold and experiment with colour and mark making.

I usually compose my subject(s) first or together with the background. This was different. I wanted to experiment with an abstract background without first thinking about the subjects. The background changed many times as I liked some areas and not others. I used acrylic paint which dries quickly, so after a short break I could come back and apply more paint. I wanted the background to have something about Finland. Finland is forest and  lakes and I don't near a lake but near the sea.

When I thought it was almost finished I decided where to place the two galgos. I wanted to keep the abstract style, and not paint in my usual realistic way. I made two cardboard templates which I painted in different colours and then used them to create 'print' the galgos onto the painting. I added the pale one first and waited for it to dry before adding the darker one over the top. Once they were in place the background needed some adjustments. But there they were two galgos in their sweet life - and by the way always adopt two galgos if at all possible :) Full details about the painting are here >>>

The galgo templates for the painting

Here are links to some of the charities helping galgos find their sweet life:

Galgos del Sur - rescued my galgo Tenshi in Spain. 

Galgos del Fenix in Finland from whom I adopted Tenshi.

Galgos del Sol in Spain and have worked with Galgos del Fenix to bring galgos to Finland by road as during the pandemic flights between the countries are almost non existent.

Refugio Esperanza a Finnish run galgo refuge who rehabilitate and find homes for galgos mainly in Finland.