Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: February 2014

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Jenny Willow - Yellow Lab

This is Jenny Willow.   She is the sweetest dog you'd ever want to meet. I've been fortunate to have painted her portrait twice.

In this painting, her owners wanted her playing at the beach.   If there is one thing that is important to Jenny Willow (aside from treats!) it is her orange ball.

We had a taken a number of photos of her near her home and her owners had some photos of her romping at the beach.   Initially, I thought we'd use one of the land photos I'd taken and I'd simply put a beach scene behind her. However, one of her owner's photos was awesome. It had great lighting, great waves, and a fabulous reflection of her in the water.   The only thing missing was her orange ball!

To create her painting it was necessary to use a number of photos.   There was the beach scene of course, then we decided to not have her bandana on in the painting necessitating the use of a photo with no bandana, and of course....a photo of the orange ball.

My easel had all these wonderful photos taped around it.   In the end we had Jenny Willow in her element - at the beach with her orange ball.

This painting makes me smile - hope it does you too!

Monday, February 17, 2014

"Monet" CH Rusticwood Spellbound CGC

Monet is now seven years old - it breaks our hearts to think of her as a veteran....how did that happen? Her pups are 16 months old and she has been getting a little envious of us taking Faith and Bling to the dog shows.   So, we are going to bring her out now and then.

On January 26, 2014 she won Best of Opposite Sex at the Orange Empire Kennel Club - a major win towards her grand championship.   She now has 16 GCH points with very little showing.

She is such a great companion.   We couldn't have asked for a more special dog.   Thank you (again) to Carolyn Dison for entrusting the "pink" girl to us.   She is not only in our home but in our hearts.

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!