Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: East Texas Afternoon - Pastel Society of the Southwest 4oth National Juried Exhibition

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

East Texas Afternoon - Pastel Society of the Southwest 4oth National Juried Exhibition

There is an interesting story behind this painting, East Texas Afternoon.

Last year, I was asked by a friend to do a real quick color sketch for a pond he was potentially expanding in East Texas. There were two ponds, side by side, with one being at a slightly higher elevation. One pond was on his property, the second pond on a neighbor's property. There was an agreement that the neighbor's property was going to be sold and the two ponds would be merged at some point. Merging the ponds would help stop drainage from one to the other while allowing the neighbor's grandchildren to fish in the ponds.

My task was to create a visual aid of the two ponds - apart and merged. We drove out to East Texas and I photographed the ponds. I did the following sketches and sent them off to my friend.

A few months later, I decided to do a painting of the ponds - not a sketch, but a true painting. Well, I wasn't really happy with what I created so I trashed it. Yep, gone, no more painting. Sometimes that happens when I am doing something just to do it. If I know what I am painting, it is different. Very seldom do I feel the need to trash something. This painting was the equivalent of a bad hair day.

I wanted a new painting to enter in art shows in 2021. Most art shows will only accept work done in the last few years. Doing so much commissioned work gives me little time to create paintings for other purposes. I pulled out my photos of the ponds and sat down at my easel. Instead of painting one pond this time - as I had done previously, I painted both ponds with one flowing into the other. Of course, there was no reference photos for this as the ponds are still separate. The painting is an artist's interpretation of what I envision the ponds to look like once they are merged. I also added more color to the trees and water. The reference photos were taken when it was late summer. No leaves had really started changing color. I love throwing color where I imagine it - finding that balance in a composition of color harmony.

Where am I going with all of this? Well, the painting has just been accepted into a national juried show to my delight. Will it win something - only the judge will determine that. Though I questioned my trashing the original painting at the time it was trashed, I am so glad that I didn't trash the idea of the painting. Thank you to the Pastel Society of the Southwest for sponsoring their 40th National Juried Exhibition. I am thrilled and honored to be a part of it. For those in North Texas, the exhibition will be in Grapevine, Texas from September 13, 2021 through November 1, 2021.

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