Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: Yorkshire Terrier

Monday, August 2, 2010

Yorkshire Terrier - Max

This painting of Max is a birthday present for my mother. Growing up we had schnauzers and yorkies for the most part (and a Shepherd mix that was dumped by our house in the country that I kept in my bedroom in the barn). In Texas, what 14 year old girl doesn't want to live in the barn with her horse?? Thanks mom for that fun experience.

Max was part of our family for 14 years. He was rescued from an abusive situation by my brother's best friend. Max was living with his 12 week old sister outside in a dog house - in Texas. Now those of you that know North Texas know that is no place for baby yorkies. The temperatures at night can get to below freezing. The horrific part is one of the family members that owned the two pups was kicking them. The sister had perished and my brother's friend snuck over the fence in the dark of night and rescued baby Max from the abusive situation.

Max was brought to my mom in the nick of time. My mother took him immediately to the veterinarian. Max was in bad shape. Nothing was broken, however the veterinarian informed my mother that Max would have survived perhaps a few more hours without medical attention.

Max lived a full life and enjoyed living with two female yorkies, my collie and then my three Irish Setters. He peed on my sofa once and my mom blamed it on my Irish....hum....my Irish peed higher than two inches! You be the judge!

This image of Max is available on gift items at my CafePress store at www.cafepress.com/dawnsecord

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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!