Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: Sir Finn - A portrait of an Irish Setter

Monday, October 3, 2016

Sir Finn - A portrait of an Irish Setter

This was such a fun painting to do - well - I feel like a broken record saying this, but I never tire of painting people's animals for them. It just touches my heart.

This is Finn. His owner wanted a standing painting of him from the very beginning. In the primary reference photo he was pulling down on his tail a bit. I had to laugh when she asked me to fix the tail (and she did have a great photo of his top line and tail as another reference photo). So, the reason I had to laugh - my dogs all pull down on their tail when I am showing them if I grab the tip of their tail. I've never trained them to hold their tail out by holding the tip of it. If I try to pull on the tip of their tail, the tuck their hiney down and it is laughable. I had a judge pull Jewel's tail once and Jewel fiercly tried to wag it out of the judge's grasp. No, we didn't win, but the judge did laugh at Jewel's antics. Finn has a lovely top line and tail set. We most certainly did need to show that in the painting!

Sir Finn is my very special heart boy. In this painting he was just 2 years old. He is now 3 and has earned 6 titles. His reg. name is CH Captiva One Last Time BN,RN,RA,THDN, CGC. Sir Finn Excels at his therapy work and has a real bond with Alzheimer patients. He was with my mom when she passed away last year and it was so very amazing how gentle he was with her and is with other patients. He wants to please me with everything he has within himself, whether it be obedience or just cuddling. He is a true gentlemen. In agility classes, he listens and stay with me but is now getting too fast for me so we will see what this brings. He has a heart of pure gold and is so very calm . Even the day we brought him home from Canada, he, a 10 week old puppy, calmed my very sick Irish, Liam! Sir Finn has never found a person or critter he has not liked no matter what they do or say. There will never be another Finn. I do thank Dawn Secord for capturing him so amazingly and in a few more year hope to have a head portrait of him.

Thank you Rita for having me paint your beautiful boy!

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

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Pastel Painting in Progress - French Bulldog

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