Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: This is a painting of Jade

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

This is a painting of Jade - an Australian Cattledog

This painting of Jade was recently finished. Her family saw my art a few years a go and spoke to me about painting her. They put down a deposit and a place on my waiting list.

We made arrangements for the painting and then life got in the way. They would contact me, then I would contact them. They sent me a number of photos of her a few months ago. I finally was able to "see" Jade. Until the photos arrived, I simply knew I was painting an Australian Cattle Dog named Jade.

When I saw her photos my heart jumped. She was not only lovely, but you could see in her eyes that she loved her family. There was "that look" that I could see in the photos - the look that she was lovingly looking into the eyes of the person taking the photo. It was time to get to work. It was their time on the waiting list and I had a beautiful girl to paint.

Thank you to her family for having me paint your special girl, Jade.

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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!