Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: September 2022

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Best Friends - an Oil Painting by Dawn Secord

This painting was finished earlier this year. It measures 40" x 48" and is oil on canvas.

The painting was allowed to dry in our barn resting on the top of our truck bed

The reference photo was taken years ago with a non professional camera using black and white film. It was a magical photo and the amateur photographer has quite the eye. It was an honor to be asked to paint it. Though I had an 8 x 10 photo to work from, due to the age and quality of the photo, there was quite a lot of detail unavailable. I scanned the photo into my computer and worked from the scan. The scan gave me more detail, but not the detail available when working with a digital photo. I wanted to be able to capture the emotion of the photo and not leave out detail that was unavailable in the photo. The fencing was an interesting part of the puzzle. It was important not to take over as the main subject - it was dark in front of the lighter background. Using lost and found edges would be paramount to not create the fencing as a focal point.

Searching through my collection of reference photos I was able to find horse photos and glean much needed detail from them. For the rider, I had additional photos from which to work. The painting was to be as the photo - monochromatic - black and white. I have a lovely collection of gray paint from different companies. It is always interesting how the various manufacturers create different versions of the same colors.

The background was a series of layered paint beginning with an under painting of burnt umber (which I let bleed through in places). When painting the leaves, the background was layered. The first layer was allowed to almost dry and then wet paint was applied over the almost dry paint. I then took a dry brush and scumbled the layers together creating a depth in the leaves that I was hoping to create. You know what they say - the best laid plans do not always work out. In this case, they worked out just as envisioned.

When I was commissioned to create this painting, I was thrilled. I haven't done a monochromatic painting in many years. It was awesome to create one again.

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!