Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: Never say never......

Monday, May 25, 2009

Never say never......

This weekend was the Mission Circuit dog show in Pomona California. This show has the reputation of being a "professional handler's show". We exclusively owner handle our dogs. The only time we had a handler was one time with Jewel at last year's National. So, we try to stay away from the shows deemed "professional handler shows". While we totally appreciate and support people using handlers and have many handlers as dear friends - we choose to show our own dogs.

The show venue is 15 minutes from our home. We have two young dogs and we thought lets enter them just for schooling purposes since the show is so close. We entered Drew on Friday and Saturday. Monet was entered on Sunday.

On Friday Drew went Winners Dog. Saturday he was dumped though he showed his little 15 month old heart out. On Sunday Monet went Winners Bitch. Hum - and we didn't want to show there because we were so certain we wouldn't do well. Goes to "show" - never say never. Thank you to the judges for finding our youngsters.

If you want to see more of my dog show photos please go to my website - and from the main gallery page scroll down to the bottom and click on Dog Show Photos or click on this hot link.

1 comment:

naturegirl said...: Congratulations!!!!; June 1, 2009 at 8:14 AM

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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!