Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: A Dog Bling - a Children's Book in the Making

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

A Dog Bling - a Children's Book in the Making

Many of you know I've been working on writing and illustrating a children's book. The dummy has been completed and is being sent out to agents. Woo Hoo!! The main character of the book is a dog Bling. Bling is my dog and she is an Irish Setter. Her best friend in the book is a goldfish named Sushi. Sushi is a real fish too. Bling travels the country with me - visiting friends, family, hanging out in my art booth as my mascot, and going to dog shows.

When creating a dummy book, an illustrator does not complete all the illustrations. The goal is to have a few illustrations to show an agent or publisher what your work would look like. The agent or publisher may have other ideas for the book and it is a waste of time and effort to do too much before finding an agent or publisher. My proposed cover is done and a few of the page illustrations.

https://www.facebook.com/adogbling/

The above image is the first illustration I'd completed for the dummy. To promote the book and Bling's Facebook page, I am doing an art giveaway featuring this first illustration. This original illustration was painted in pastel and is framed.

If you are interested in winning the work - please go to Bling's Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/adogbling/

There is no cost and the shipping of the artwork is free as well. All you need to do to enter is follow the instructions on Bling's Facebook page to enter.

Bling also has a website now and a fan page for children to receive messages from Bling (with the approval of their parents of course). Bling's website is http://www.adogbling.com Go take a peek!

For those of you interested in winning the artwork - good luck and thank you for your support of Bling and my children's book. If you are an agent or publisher and are interested in seeing the dummy or reading the manuscript, please email me at ... adogbling@gmail.com

Thanks so much!

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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!