A painting of Tobie the Yorkie and Murphee the Maltese

This painting was really awesome to create.  The owners of Tobie and Murphee had the perfect photos for our project.  Both dogs had passed away and and fortunately their owners had a number of them.  

There was a great photo of the boys laying on the back of the sofa.   Their expressions in that photo were not ideally what the owners wanted reflected in the painting.   However, there were some other photos that had the dogs' expressions that really showed "the boys" personalities.

Usually I stay away from moving body parts like this.  Since the dogs had so much coat, it was not as big of a transition as it would be on a short coated dog like a Frenchie (for example).  I didn't have to worry about muscle or tendons being off - all would be covered with their hair.  For the background, I was a bit concerned the darkness in the photo would over power the dogs.  This was discussed with the dogs owners, Kim and Eric, and they agreed.

The photos are all shown below and you can see how the painting came to life.

I asked the owners to share a little bit about the dogs and this is what they told me:

Tobie, our Yorkie, was born August 26, 2004, and Murphee, our Maltese, was born December 26, 2005.  They became brothers in the Spring of 2006 and played a tremendous role in our family for the years to follow.

In their relationship with each other, Tobie was the “big brother”.  He was very smart, spirited, and welcoming; we considered him an “old soul”, as he was very intuitive in his mannerisms.  Murphee, the baby of the family, had a very affectionate and playful character.  He carried himself in a regal manner, and was a true and sweet companion to all he trusted.  “The Boys”, as we affectionately called them, shared a loving bond and were always together. 

This painting, on the back of our sofa, depicts their favorite spot in the house.  It gave them a collective, comfortable view over their home, and more importantly, over our family.  We are so grateful for our time together, and remain appreciative of their lively spirit – they will be in our hearts forever.

Thank you again for truly capturing their spirit.  We are so grateful for this keepsake and your effort.

Eric & Kim

Show Dogs Escape to the Seashore Illustrated by Dawn Secord, Artist

Those who know me well know I've been illustrating a children's book for the past three years.   The author of the book is AKC judge and dog writer, Marsha Hall Brown.   It is exciting to be able to say....the book is finished and published.  It has been a wonderful journey working with Mrs. Brown.  

Show Dogs Escape to the Seashore is a great story of learning that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence, that competitors can be friends and teamwork accomplishes more than going solo. 

The website is under construction and will sell a collector's issue of the book (autographed by author and illustrator

along with a dust jacket and book mark), the original illustrations, prints and posters.  http://www.showdogsescape.

For now, the book is available from Barnes & Noble  and at Amazon. com 

Follow the book on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Show-Dogs-Escape/635951903145270 and Twitter  https://twitter.com/ShowDogsEscape

Yorkshire Terrier - Max

This painting of Max is a birthday present for my mother. Growing up we had schnauzers and yorkies for the most part (and a Shepherd mix that was dumped by our house in the country that I kept in my bedroom in the barn). In Texas, what 14 year old girl doesn't want to live in the barn with her horse?? Thanks mom for that fun experience.

Max was part of our family for 14 years. He was rescued from an abusive situation by my brother's best friend. Max was living with his 12 week old sister outside in a dog house - in Texas. Now those of you that know North Texas know that is no place for baby yorkies. The temperatures at night can get to below freezing. The horrific part is one of the family members that owned the two pups was kicking them. The sister had perished and my brother's friend snuck over the fence in the dark of night and rescued baby Max from the abusive situation.

Max was brought to my mom in the nick of time. My mother took him immediately to the veterinarian. Max was in bad shape. Nothing was broken, however the veterinarian informed my mother that Max would have survived perhaps a few more hours without medical attention.

Max lived a full life and enjoyed living with two female yorkies, my collie and then my three Irish Setters. He peed on my sofa once and my mom blamed it on my Irish....hum....my Irish peed higher than two inches! You be the judge!

This image of Max is available on gift items at my CafePress store at www.cafepress.com/dawnsecord