Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: April 2010

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Irish Setter Club Awards Banquet

Last night at the awards banquet Drew, Willowbrook Artist's Rendition, won the blue ribbon puppy award. Yeah Drew. Here he is at two years old - not a puppy anymore. Boy, why do they have to grow up so quickly! We hope he is soon a father!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Our First Planned Litter

My husband and I have always purchased our dogs. We've had Irish Setters since the early 1980's. Here we are - 30 years later and have decided to breed a litter. The mom will be Monet. Up until now, Monet has been my "working model" in the studio. We hope she will enjoy her new role! Will keep you posted on how this goes!

Friday, April 16, 2010

PBGV Petite Basset Griffon Vendeen

This is Molly. She is a rescue dog and quite a little love. When she was adopted her new family was told she was a PBGV. Well, there is a lot of PBGV in her but we are confident that there is a little something else in there too.

One thing is for sure, she is the best dog her family has ever owned and if I were a dog, I'd love to be with Molly's family.

Thank you for having me paint your special girl!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Irish Setters & Long Haired Dachshund

This painting was so much fun to create. Charlie, the doxie, was such a hoot. He has so much energy and charisma. The owners of the dogs were quite interested how I was going to arrange the three dogs in the composition.

I took in excess of 100 photos of the three dogs in Lancaster, Pennsylvania last June. When it came to creating the painting, Charlie just fit in perfectly sitting below his two best friends.

Hope you enjoy viewing this painting as much as I had creating it!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Irish Setter - Monet at the Dog Show

Monet aka Ch. Rusticwood Spellbound just finished her American Kennel Club championship this past weekend by going WB and BOW at the Irish Setter Club of Central California Specialty for a four point major. There were 33 dogs and 31 bitches entered in the classes. Monet was owner handled for every point.

We are so proud of her. Our next step - hum - maybe the whelping box and a hopefully some wiggly little baby Monets!

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!