Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: Irish Setter Family Painting

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Irish Setter Family Painting

This painting was commissioned as a family tribute. The owners of the dogs live in a beautiful log cabin in Virginia.

There were eight Irish Setter puppies in the litter. I had taken over 100 photos of the puppies playing so there would a large selection of poses for the composition. Ultimately 41 photos of the pups were printed and laid out on my living room floor to finalize the composition. It was important that each puppy be interactive in the painting so that the viewer found themselves being led from one dog to another. Another 15 photos were printed out of the cabin and the parents. When working on a large multi-subject project such as this it is helpful for me to lay photos out to visualize the final composition.

For the cabin - most of the photos had been taken in the winter while the trees were dormant. There was one photo supplied that showed the summer colors and trees full. In the summer photo the colors of the horizon were breathtaking and it was so much fun to capture the colors behind the trees.

Lastly, and very important to me, was the American flag blowing in the breeze on the front porch. My husband and I are very patriot and we were thrilled to see the flag in the photos.

The painting is 20" x 30" and an extremely rewarding project. I hope you enjoy viewing the painting as much as I had painting it. On my website, there is an Irish Setter painting featuring five puppies playing that is available in limited edition giclee prints.

Dawn Secord

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Pastel Painting in Progress - French Bulldog

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Oil Painting in Process

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