Greyhound Red Fawn Watercolor Illustration
By Charlie

Fast And Fun!

Written by Charlie O'Shields

For our prompt of “Greyhound” today, I learned that these awesome creatures come in lots of various colors and sizes, so I wasn’t sure which version to sketch. I didn’t have much time at all, so I did a very quick sketch of one that made me smile most. And, I figured that a super quick sketch was a wonderful way to pay tribute to the fastest dog in the world. Also, it’s a wonderful exercise to help me practice avoiding overworking my sketches, which I’m often prone to do! Though greyhounds love to run fast, they’re sprinters and after a quick sprint they are mostly just ready to relax and cuddle, earning them the nickname of “40 Mph Couch Potato,” which I think is super cute. My own dog is a basenji and these days he’s mostly just a couch potato, but his breed can clock in up to 30mph when they’re young. Yet, it’s the greyhound that wins the race every time.

Once, I had friends years ago who had an Italian Greyhound and it was the cutest little thing in the world. For a time, I was convinced that it would be the next dog I would own, but I ended up meeting my little basenji at the shelter instead. Though the early years with a dog are super fun with all of the vibrant energy, the later years are fun as well, and certainly more relaxing. When Phineas was little he would race around the house chasing a red laser light I would spin around on the walls. He would gleefully run around in circles for most of the evening. It made me think about how “running in circles” is often seen as something bad for humans to do, but dogs seem to perfectly understand the allure. I’ve spent much of my own life running in circles, but that’s just because of my severely short attention span and willingness to keep failing at something until I get it right.

And things have seemed to move incredibly quickly this week, or days are just blending into the next now that I’m home all of the time. It seems like I blinked and it’s already time for another weekend! I’m certainly not complaining as I adore weekends and I get super excited about each one as though it’s the first time I’ve ever experienced such a thing. If I had a tag, I’m quite certain it would be feverishly wagging right now. That’s another fun thing to consider. What if humans had tails? It’s a wild thought, even beyond simply visualizing it. For example, if someone asked if you liked their new dress, you would intuitively say, “Yes! It’s lovely” but if your tail was stock still then it would be obvious this was not your opinion at all. Or, when meeting someone, you realize you find them super attractive and try to play it cool, but your furiously wagging tail would once again betray you. Yes, I guess it’s rather good we don’t have them after all. I’ll just stick to quickly sketching creatures with tails and keep living a life that’s fast and fun!

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About the Doodlewash

Da Vinci Paint Co.: Gold Ochre, Quinacridone Red, Terra Cotta, and Indigo. Lamy Al-Star Safari Fountain Pen with black ink  in an A5 Hahnemühle Watercolour Book. Want to purchase a print of this doodlewash? Send me a note with a link to this post, and I’ll add it to my shop!
 Greyhound Red Fawn Watercolor Illustration Sketchbook Detail

 

Charlie O'Shields

Creator of Doodlewash, founder of World Watercolor Month (July), World Watercolor Group, and host of the Sketching Stuff Podcast. Sharing watercolor illustrations and stories while proudly featuring talented artists from all over the world!

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20 thoughts on “Fast And Fun!”

  1. Such a happy greyhound Charlie. Makes me want to go to the local greyhound rescue center. They save greyhounds when tracks close. Most, if not all, racing tracks have closed in New England.

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  2. Had burgers on the grill tonight!!

    One of my online friends has a greyhound. I think this is her 5th rescue greyhound. He was a racing dog and therefore lived in a kennel. Now that he is living the cushy suburban dog life, you’d think he would be all over it. And mostly he is, except he won’t sleep on the nice soft dog bed they bought him. He sleeps on the floor beside it, and uses it like a giant pillow. LOL!

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  3. A fast looking pup indeed! When we lived near Ft Myers FL we would see a lot of the greyhound rescue groups at Petco and they make super pets. The really strange thing about them is that they like to lean against you – it’s odd seeing a group of people with dogs leaning against their legs, as if the dogs had adopted us! If we hadn’t already rescued a wonderful dog that was part greyhound we would have been a speedy-dog family.

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