Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: A portrait of Oscar

Friday, August 4, 2017

A portrait of Oscar

This is Oscar. His official name is GCHB CH American/Canadian Ramblin’ Red Brisbane. His owner and I talked about painting him a few years ago. He was young at that time and she thought it would be best to wait a few years until he grew up. A few years later, here is his painting. He is an amazing dog with a prize personality.

I’d asked his owner to share a little bit about him. Here is what she shared:

Oscar was among the Top 20 Irish Setters and qualified for the Irish Setter Club of America’s Health Foundation Top 20 competition in 2016. He was the winner of the OVASA of Canada CA, Irish Setter Division. He was bred by Peter, Anne Marie and Randy Kubacz. (Pendoric Reign of Fire out of Ramblin’ Red Special Agent Starling). He is owned, cared for , and loved by Nancy Salmon and Peter Kubacz; handled and conditioned by Peter. Oscar is the 5^th Ramblin’ Red Irish Setter owned and loved by Nancy. As she concludes, “Each has owned My heart.”

Thank you Nancy for having me paint your special boy.

Following are the main two reference photos used for the painting.

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

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

No comments:

Post a Comment

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!