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The movement of a greyhound is so fluid. Easy, covering ground effortlessly.

I have a galgo Espanol (Spanish greyhound). When I am outside with her she is usually on a 2 metre leash. Her favourite pace is to trot. In horse terms I would call it a working trot. She has the attitude she has somewhere to go. I allow her the length of the leash and if I walk fast (I have long legs) I can keep pace with her and watch her fluid movement. I notice the back paw lands just where the front paw was. That surely has to be efficiency.

I painted the background to this canvas first. The first layer was yellow ochre and you can see small areas of this left exposed by the other layers of paint. I then more or less covered it with white and then had some fun with a large black brush to make some bold marks. That's when I decided to call it Graffiti! I made stencils to add the greyhounds. I did not want to paint them in my usual realistic style and the painting is just as I had first imagined.  :)

Further details about the painting can be found here >>>

In anticipation of spring arriving in Finland I painted Spring Fever. While waiting for the blossoms to burst I experimented with a lot of wet paint on the canvas and let it run. This would be the colourful background to my subject. It worked better than I expected, but I became lost for a while and left the painting alone for a few weeks. I knew I wanted to add a greyhound but where and how?

The work in progress background of Spring Fever.

There are always many questions to be answered and decisions to be made when creating a painting. This was originally going to be a landscape format because I had already pictured in my mind the greyhound. However, as I was studying the shapes and marks I turned the canvas and realised it would work so much better in portrait format - then it was easy.

I changed the greyhound image I had imagined to the one you see in the painting and I was able to place it perfectly. I made a stencil in the correct proportion to fit the painting to check the positioning. Then I continued to make adjustments to the background and now I am very happy with it! 

The painting is for sale and you will find the details here >>>