Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: Reba and Luna - a painting of a mother and daughter

Sunday, April 18, 2021

Reba and Luna - a painting of a mother and daughter

This is a painting created using soft pastels. It is of two Irish Setters, a mother and daughter.

Reba (left) and Luna (right) were mother and daughter. Reba has left us and Luna is a special girl that allows her family not only to love her deeply, but have a little piece of Reba through her.

Until we bred a litter, I didn't truly appreciate the depth of having a mom and a pup. Through the pups you see tidbits of their parents - the mannerisms, maybe little quirks - inherited traits. These traits, unless you knew the parents, maybe just fun aspects of that given dog. Knowing the parents, you understand the tidbits are inherited little precious moments that remind you of their parents. We see that in our human families. Fun little behaviors inherited from parents or grandparents.

For the painting, I flipped Luna's pose in her reference photo so that she would be leaning in towards her mother. The beauty of a painting is there are no rules. You can paint what is in your heart and create the setting. It was a great experience to paint a mom and her pup together. Thank you to all those involved.

Give your dogs a big hug. Time goes by so quickly. Regardless of mom, pup or otherwise, before we blink an eye, that dog has grown older and we are wondering how time passed without us knowing it was happening.

Below are the reference photos used for the painting:

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