Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: January 2014

Friday, January 31, 2014

This is Silver Spots. He is a "Savanah" cat. If you've not heard of a Savanah - take a moment and google it. They are amazing cats - and HUGE cats. I've known Silver Spots since he was a baby and was thrilled when his owners asked me to paint him.

For the photo shoot, we took about 150 photos. He is such a poser and in the end, his owners couldn't decide which photo was best to use as the primary pose. They gave that job to me. Talk about pressure!!! He is such a regal cat that I decided to paint him in an old style feeling. I wanted to capture as the old Masters did their subjects. To do so the background needed to be very dark and rich so the lighter colors of his fur and eyes would pop. The chose to have a dark frame to enhance the effect of the painting.

The end result was exactly what I'd planned and hoped. When you look at the painting, the background draws you into the subject and your eyes rest there.

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!