Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: A painting of Prada, English Setter

Saturday, June 21, 2025

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.

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