Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: Jenny Willow

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!

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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!