Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: A painting of Dominick: MBISS MBISS NBIS GCHG PaRay’s Power and Privilege

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

A painting of Dominick: MBISS MBISS NBIS GCHG PaRay’s Power and Privilege

This painting was something I'd been looking forward to doing. Dominick's owners had wanted a unique painting of their lovely boy. I was excited to work with them again. I had painted their girl, Sloan, a number of years ago.

The goal was to have him in a Victorian setting. After quite a lot of research and going back and forth with ideas - we had a plan. I've not done a painting like this before, but what fun it was to create. Dominick was a Bichon Frise and had a significant impact on the breed. With that in mind, I wanted the colors of the clothing to reflect Dominick. The purple and gold colors in the clothing are the colors of the Best of Breed ribbon in the dog show world. In addition, purple and gold are the colors for the Westminster Kennel Club. All fitting to include in this dog's painting. Over the course of the research and the completion of the painting, many conversations were had.

Following are some snippets of these conversations as well as background information about Dominick.
Dawn, I have been fascinated by these images since I opened your email!

You are so clever with the angle of the head in position to the chest. Very intriguing.

The image of Dominick (#3) looking up to the right, without his tongue sticking out - is the one I like best for the portrait.

Did you flip this image? Perfect!

Here is a little bit about Dominick:
MBISS MBISS NBIS GCHG PaRay’s Power and Privilege, “Dominick,” was our foundation sire for the Rosemont Bichon Frise line and had 21 litters to his credit.

And... a finished painting:

WOW! Just WOW!!

Beautiful. I think you did an extraordinary job on Dominick's head/face/expression, and the colors are magnificent - soft purple and gold - Westminster, and Best of Breed!

Dominick’s expression is lovely and your eye is perfect.

Martin got the biggest smile our of Dominick’s paw on the cane. It is his favorite part, after Dominick’s head. I will enjoy it every day! I can't wait to see the original. And yes, the background detail is beyond expectations! Thank you very much!!

He will always be a most precious Bichon to me - - my heart dog.

Thank you to Laura and Martin for having me paint their special boy. It was an honor.

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