A painting of Prada, English Setter

I've painted for Prada's owner in the past.   A few years ago she showed me this breathtaking photo of Prada in the field.  It was taken by a professional photographer.   With permission of the photographer, Prada's owner commissioned me to paint her.   Prada is no longer with us and I understand she was immensely cherished by her owner's husband.   I would be painting Prada as a gift from wife to husband.

Those of you who know my painting, know I like to use photos as a road map while using artistic liberties to make the painting be a painting - not a photocopy of a photo.  With this painting, the photo was so fantastic that there was not much that I wanted to omit or adjust.  To keep Prada's coat as if it was illuminating and retain the "sun kissed" look (what her owner loves about the photo), I encapsulated some of the foliage with purples and blues.  These were the primary colors used in Prada's coat in addition to the obvious earth tones and I wanted the color in the composition to be bouncing and reflecting on and off all tangible items in the photo.  As mentioned, I did not want to gravitate from the photo, just soften the foliage around her and the shadows cast by her head over her shoulders.

The first picture is the painting I created of Prada.  The 2nd photo is a somewhat size ways view of the painting to show how dimensional the painting is.

I asked Prada's owner to tell us about Prada.   Following is what she said:

    

Prada..BOSS, GCH Monimar SeaIsland's The Devil Wears Spots, JH.

OFA CHIC The reference photo was taken by Joe Deese. Prada was 7 & 1/2 months old in the photo and had just found her first quail in the bird field. Prada was my foundation bitch, bred by Mary K. Iverson (Monimar ES). She loved to hunt and had beautiful style in the field. Never missed a bird. She was a great mother to her 12 puppies. She is the dam to multiple CH, GCH-GCHG, BISS, BOSS, Specialty WD, WB, BW, Group winning & group placing get. Dam to Top 5 & Westminster Select Dog (2022) Jake, BISS, GCHG Sea Island's Wrapped Up In Magic. Prada also has get with performance titles in several venues, Therapy dogs as well as Great family pets. Prada was a great house pet, loved my grandkids and they loved her. She was my sidekick, my Prada B, mainly shown by me. Prada helped raise the pups from my other litters, she loved puppies! Prada was the love of my husband, Kurt's life. she will always have a large piece of his heart. There will never be another girl like Prada, she was beautiful and sassy with so much attitude! Prada was pretty close to Perfect.

I was so excited to paint Prada.  A note of sincere appreciation to the photographer for allowing me to use his photo for reference.  Of course sincere appreciation for Prada's owner, Frazier, for choosing me to paint this truly special girl.

Here is the original reference photo used for the painting.

A painting of Rufus

This was a very special dog named Rufus.   Rufus was a much loved companion and his owner, Shirley, shared many fond memories of him with me.  The biggest part of Rufus that she wanted captured in his painting was his kind eyes which created his gentle expression.

Shirley had an assortment of photos of Rufus.  The one photo that really touched her heart was that of him sitting on a grooming table at a dog show.   The photo's environment was not ideal due to the lack of lighting at that show venue.   The photo was ideal in capturing the essence that Rufus' owner wanted reflected in his painting.  

When working with a photo like the one chosen, I am offered a true image of what I need to include in the painting.   However, without proper lighting, it will be more work on my part.  ( I do not mean that in a negative way whatsoever.)   It is my goal to add dimension to the painting that is lacking in the reference material due to the lighting.   I want the painting to show what is missing in the photo but reflect the essence of our main character - Rufus.   It is important that we see the bone structure of the dog.  This will allow the painting to be dimensional and not flat.   It allows the painting to look more realistic.   Lighting has everything to do making the painting feel like you can reach out and pet the dog.  It may take me longer to get the painting where I want it to be and that is okay.  The efforts are greatly rewarded emotionally when I am able to provide someone with a special painting that touches their heart.  A weaker photograph allows me to be more artistic.  I have to be creative.   As always, I don't want to be known as an artist who is copying a photograph.   I want to be known as the artist that uses creative liberties to create a real work of art and only used photos as a road map to the destination of that particular journey.  

For the background Shirley had some amazing photographs of her property.   She chose a photo that had amazing clouds on that given day.   The color was amazing.   As beautiful as it was in the photo, a balance was needed to not allow the background to overpower our main subject.  Another opportunity for me to be creative in the overall composition using artistic liberties.   One example of this is how I used the clouds as directional arrows (if you will) to direct the viewer to Rufus' eyes.   I followed the photo but yet I didn't.

Thank you to Shirley for having me paint your special boy.   Thank you for allowing me to be an artist and create a special painting for you.   I hope this painting touches your heart whenever you look at it.  With gratitude - Dawn.