Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: Doberman Pastel Painting

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Doberman Pastel Painting

This painting is 17" x 27" and features Kayla - a new champion. Kayla's owners have each of their Doberman's painting when the dogs finish their American Kennel Club (AKC) Championship. As a fun addition to the painting, an AKC ribbon is placed in the painting along with the dog.

I had met Kayla's owners at a dog show where she was not present. Traveling to Northern California allowed me to meet up with the owners and Kayla and be able to photograph Kayla in person. She was an awesome model and I obtained some wonderful reference material from our photo shoot.

The ribbon is a ribbon one of my dogs had won. So, I had a real life ribbon to paint from - an added plus.

Thank you to Kayla's owners for choosing me to paint their beautiful girl!

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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!