Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: Irish Setter Puppy Painting Number 2

Friday, May 9, 2014

Irish Setter Puppy Painting Number 2

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Art-by-Dawn-Secord/120610651282807?ref=br_rs

Here is puppy painting number two. The first painting can be seen on my facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Art-by-Dawn-Secord/120610651282807?ref=br_rs

To push the emotion in the painting a bit further than that of the photo, I rolled this pup's ears back a tad more than what her ears were doing in the actual photo. That is the fun with painting - no rules - no being limited with a photo. Following is the story about this painting. If you want to participate in the voting on which painting I should put into print, please go to my facebook art page and share your comments!

Here is a second puppy painting that was done for a show. When the first puppy painting was completed, I was asked if it was going to be put into print. Originally, that had not been the intention. The two paintings were simply for a show.

When going through all the different reference puppy photos in my library, the reference photo for this second puppy painting kept talking to me. There was something about the eyes that drew me in and kept me there. At first, it seemed the pup was longing for something. After looking at the photo numerous times it no longer had that look, but rather a thoughtful look. The emotion the pup was displaying was very thought provoking - what the heck was that pup thinking? I figured, if I kept going back to that photo, well, I better paint it.

So, my question to you is (now that I've decided to put one of the two into a limited edition print) which of the two should it be? Would love to hear your votes - is it puppy painting number one or puppy painting number two? In puppy number one, I used some fun fruitful colors that were used in a painting of my dog Jewel, years ago (you can see a snippet of Jewel's painting on the top of my blog) that were more of a fun cheery approach. Puppy painting number two has more bold colors.

The emphasis was not color harmony in the painting but to direct the viewer to the eyes of the pup.

If you want to see the original reference photo for puppy painting number 2 - go to my blog at http://www.artofthedog.blogspot.com

Don't forget to send me a comment and let me know which of the two you prefer! Thanks so much!

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