Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: St. Bernard Puppy

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

St. Bernard Puppy - Remington

This is baby Remington. He was about 12 weeks old in this portrait.

There is a fun story on how I met Remy's human parents. Back in 2003 I was in a "Dog Reality Show" called "Top Dog" with my dog Jewel. The show air in February 2004 and was a FOX TV production. One of the other dogs on the show was a St. Bernard named Winston. His human parents were incredible people and we became friends during the course of taping the show. Once the show was completed, and they found out about my art, they commissioned me to paint Winston.

Sadly, Winston passed as age would dictate and it took the owners a while to be ready for a new pup. When the time was right, they brought a new pup into their home. This pup is Remington.

Remington is a big pup as any St. Bernard pup would be. He is beautiful and has a gentle quiet temperament just as Winston had. Knowing Remington would only be "small" for a tiny window of time they had me come down and take photos of him at that age. During the photo session they decided to put Remy in a basket on one of their bicycles. This was a fun idea - how long would a St. Bernard fit in a bicycle basket!!! Ultimately, that was the photo that would be used for his puppy painting.

It will be fun to watch Remington grow and I look forward to painting him as a Big Dog!!

1 comment:

AnimalSmile said...: Very very sweet and peaceful face of Winston, you really did great job on his portrait!

pet beds; February 25, 2011 at 9:41 PM

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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!