Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: People Portrait: Lindsey

Saturday, February 2, 2008

People Portrait: Lindsey

Many people know me only as an animal artist so here is a recent painting of one of the people portraits that has been completed recently. The ocean behind the subject was much darker in the reference photo.

When the original colors were first laid in the ocean competed with Lindsey as the primary focus. Before painting in pastel I was an oil painter for over 20 years. With great frequency the skills learned over the years in oil painting have rolled over into my pastel paintings. To take the focus off the background I used some greys and blue greys to glaze over the existing colors to knock the ocean back into the distance. The waves then need to be re painted with lighter greys and some very light yellows. The result was exactly what I had intended. Lindsey popped out from the background.

This painting was done on pastel board and is 16" x 20", This was the first time I had used this surface for painting a person. The pastel board allowed me to do a lot of mixing right on the surface and gave me a feeling of working once again in a wet medium with the imediate results of a dry medium. It was a great experience and I look forward to using the pastel board more often in the future.

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Pastel Painting in Progress - French Bulldog

Here is a painting in progress. The pastel paintings are done very much in the same way an oil painting is done. I start with a base color. Usually I work with a precolored surface. With oil painting I would lay in a foundation color so the white canvas wouldn't show through. So this is the same basis. Since I am right handed I work from left to right unless it is a landscape or still life in which case the entire surface is worked uniformly. With pet portraits, so I don't damage an area that is completed, the surface is worked from left to right. While working an area of the subject I lay in mid tone values first - then work light to dark. With pastels an artist can "fill the tooth" of the surface so it is important not to over work any areas. Once the entire subject is painted I go back and reinforce the lightest lights and darkest darks. My greatest area of interest is the eyes. If the eyes aren't right the entire painting will look odd. If the painting is about a sleeping animal it is important to convey the comfort of the animal.

Oil Painting in Process

The following pictures show an Oil Painting in process. The first images show my beginning sketch. I use a common pencil, ruler and an eraser. Once the beginning sketch is satisfactory the sketch is secured with a layer of black oil paint. When the first layer is dried I apply a base color over the entire canvas. I love working on a burnt sienna foundation. There are paintings where I start just working directly on the white canvas and there is no base layer or foundation. It really depends on the painting. From the base foundation I start layering colors. It is a slow process due to drying time. This is where it really becomes fun. I should really make a recording of my husband saying, "You're done - stop messing with it!" Thanks for taking a peek. This painting is of a cat named Lynxy!