Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: Summer in Sonoma

Friday, May 4, 2012

Summer in Sonoma

This painting is titled, "Summer in Sonoma".    The painting has been a long time in the making.

Every year, I do a new painting to be released at the Irish Setter Club of America National Speciality.    The painting released at this show is always geographically friendly to the location.    For "Summer in Sonoma", my husband and I took a road trip to the wine country of California several years ago.    We went when the grapes were ripening and still on the vines.   I took literally hundreds of photos in Napa, Sonoma and the surrounding areas.

Getting dog models for the painting was a project in and of itself.   I started two years ago organizing the dog photos.   The dogs in the painting were created from four different dogs.    People always ask me, "Who are the dogs in the photos?"    Sometimes the dog is a specific dog.   More often than not, the dogs are changed so that they are not a specific dog.    With the subjects in this painting, as mentioned, there were four actual dogs used.   I used the head from one, the movement from another, the coat from a third and the body from a fourth.     Creating the ideal dog takes longer than having one model.    Lots of adjustments were needed.

I hope you like it and thank you to all the folks that proofed the painting for me and to those who assisted me with dog photos.

"SUMMER IN SONOMA"

If you are interested in purchasing a print, please go to my website and click on the "prints for sale" page or click on this link: http://www.dawnsecord.com/printsforsale.html

Have a great day!

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