Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: Malibu Art Festival July 2009

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Malibu Art Festival July 2009

The Malibu Art Festival this year was so much fun. The weather was remarkable. Last year it was much warmer and overall just not as pleasant. This year the ocean breeze was cool and refreshing and it was just awesome to be outside. So much of my time is in the studio with limited people contact (other than my persistent requests to friends to meet me at Starbucks!!) Being out with people discussing life and art was a welcome change to my regular schedule.

I was working on a painting of four Irish setters - four generations, a great grandmother, grandmother, mother and daughter. It was so interesting to see how the painting invoked responses from people. The white faces on the older dogs just touched the hearts of dog lovers. A lot of people stopped to watch me paint and it was simply great fun to be there.

Huge thanks to those who traveled up to Malibu to visit me in the booth and see my latest works. Hoping the weather in Malibu is great next year too!

No comments:

Post a Comment

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!