Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: Gallery SoHo Exhibit

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Gallery SoHo Exhibit

The opening exhibit for the Gallery SoHo was on Saturday night. It was a fun event. My husband and I took my parents to the opening as a treat and then afterwards we all went out to dinner and celebrated Valentine's Day early.

In this exhibit I entered mostly still life pieces. The paintings are all done in pastel on various surfaces. On of the pieces, "Influences of Fuchsia", was done on pastel paper with a base color of each subjects complimentary color. If you look closely you can see the complimentary colors peeking out. A piece, one of my favorites, "One Hot Pepper", is done on lightly sanded La Carte paper.

There are a few puppy paintings in the mix, "I See You", (Boxer pup) which is included in a recently published book of pastel artists "Best Of America Pastel Volume II" and "Give me a Hug" featuring a Basset Hound puppy.

Thanks for taking a peek!

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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!