Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: May 2018

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Carly and Colleen - Painting of Two Irish Setters

The two subjects in this painting are named Carly and Colleen. They are as sweet as they can be! Though I understand they are also very "Irish" and can be mischievous. When I was with them, they were adorable and very good about having their photos taken!

We'd taken photos of them last year on the East Coast. It is so much fun to photograph dogs and then see their personalities show through in the photos. Their reference photos are shown at the bottom of this post.

When it was time to do the painting we settled on two lovely photos as the primary reference material. For Carly, our favorite reference photo had her mouth open just a tad. So, in her image in the painting, I closed her mouth.   For Colleen, she was squinting a bit, so I opened her eyes a tad more than in the reference photos.

The beauty of painting is the freedom in using reference material. I am not locked into using everything in the photo.   I can omit, add, enhance, downplay, and or create whatever is needed to make the painting something special and unique.    Of course, the better the reference material, the more I can put into the painting.   Photographing animals is not easy. My hat is off to professional photographers - wow - their job is one I greatly respect.

Thank you to Anne for having me paint your gorgeous girls.

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

http://www.dawnsecord.com/printsforsale.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!