Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: July 2016

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Dog Days of Summer

I had the honor today of judging the artwork submitted for "Dog Days of Summer" at the Brandon Gallery. The show included animal art that not only included dogs, but cats, and a few chickens!

When arriving at the gallery, the amount of artwork that had been submitted was shocking.   When driving to the gallery I thought, the pieces will just jump out at me like at the dog show. Sometimes that dog enters the ring and you just can't take your eyes off of it. Well, I felt like I had a ring full of blue ribbons once I started looking at the work.

The artwork was lined against almost every wall and then several deep on the floor along the walls.   Holy Smokes!!    I walked through all the art several times just enjoying the pieces.   My goal wasn't to try and pick the placements at first sight, I just simply wanted to take in all the work.   There were 2 dimensional pieces, 3 dimensional pieces, photographs, and one very unique multi-media piece. There was work that was traditional, some whimsical, some very modern and from all mediums.   WOW - the body of work was awesome and all from local artists. UNBELIEVABLE!

I don't want to give away what happened next as choices were made and why. Nor can I show what pieces won.   On August 6th I'll be at the gallery to meet the artists and discuss my choices.   I can't wait.    All I can say is WOW - some really amazing work. I loved my Best in Show. Gosh, I loved all the placements.   So often I hear a dog judge say to me when I exit the ring, on any given day - any of these fine dogs could have been the winner.   Those thoughts circled in my mind as I looked at all the art before me.    So many winners and I could only pick one.

Thank you to the Brandon Gallery for trusting in me to judge the work. It was truly my honor!

Sunday, July 10, 2016

A painting of Alec

What a fun painting! After taking photos of Alec for this painting, his owner kept going back to two photos she was having trouble deciding between. So, we did the obvious - painted both.

It truly was difficult to choose the best reference photos for this painting. Alec is so photogenic.

When we decided to use both photos, I wanted to really set the laying down photo away from the head study so I played around with the bottom of the painting. Finally, layering some middle value ultramarine blues did the trick. The fun thing about pastels is that there are so many different techniques that an artist can employ without having to wait for the paint to dry.

Here is a little background on Alec from his loving owner:

BISS GCh./Can. Ch Courtwood Going My Way.

Alec received his name on they way home from Sue Hahnen's home when he was a puppy. My son and I talked about all kinds of names and my son said he sure looks like a smart aleck of a puppy; the name fit perfectly. He became my smart "Alec" and the keeper of my heart.

Sandra Kraft

Thank you to Sandra for having me paint her special boy and to her dear friend, LeeAnn, who was the mastermind behind our project.

http://www.dawnsecord.com/commissioninformation.html

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!