Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: art of the labrador retriever

Showing posts with label art of the labrador retriever. Show all posts

Sunday, July 3, 2022

Troy Grayson - Labrador Retriever - Original Pet Painting

This is a painting recently completed of Troy Grayson. Grayson is his middle name - not to be confused with his family's last name. I always give our dogs two names (Bling is known as Bing Bing at home as an example) so it tickled me when he was named as he is.

Troy is 8 years old now and I've known him since he was a pup. He actually stayed with us for a few weeks when he was a baby while his owners went on a lengthy vacation. He is everything we love about Labrador Retrievers. He is fun, loving, gentle spirited, and a great family dog.

For this painting, Troy has been photographed several times and we have been waiting for the perfect photo that would show his personality. When the reference photo had been taken, I was in California for an art show and was staying with Troy's family while there. It is much more fun to stay with a family than a hotel! We took photos of Troy for the painting and this reference photo was the one that touched his owner's hearts and would be used for his painting.

Last summer Troy was diagnosed with lymphoma. He had a roller coaster of a time going through the treatments. He is in remission and his family couldn't be happier. Modern medicine? - miracles? - maybe a combination of both. Thank you to Troy's family for having me paint your special boy.

Thursday, April 18, 2019

This is a painting of Bandit and Coors - two litter mates. I know their "brother" Troy. He stayed with us when he was a pup for a few weeks as a favor to a friend. Labrador Retrievers are such great dogs - clowns while loyal, intense while casual - they are just great dogs (not to be redundant) but they are.

Thank you to Christen and Andrew (and their Aunt Suzanne) for having me involved with this special project. I asked them to share some information about Bandit and Coors. Below is what they had to say.

Dawn,
Thank you for capturing our dogs’ unique features, although they are always truly brother and sister and
love to be right next to one another, they have such different personalities. Our Blonde girl “Coors” is
such a tomboy and has no idea how big she is when she sits on the couch next to you or when she ends
up putting her big muzzle on the pillow next to your face early in the morning.
Our boy Bandit has such a deep bark on all muscle frame but wants nothing more than to be loved on
while he stares at you with his big brown innocent eyes.
These guys together have the routine down to with in minutes of the first meal, big bone when we
leave, what time I am supposed to be home to feed them dinner and then the long stare for when It is
time to go on our evening dog walk, maybe they have trained us. We love taking them on vacations and
well as eating donuts together on the weekend. Bandit and Coors are usually so well behaved until you
show them any sort of water and then all bets are off for, they never want to get out no matter what
temperature it is outside.
We love them as our own children and wish they will never grow old but at least we will have this
painting to remind us of how much they mean in our lives.
Thank you again so much
Christen and Andrew Lee

Here are the reference photos for the painting.

http://www.dawnsecord.com/commissioninformation.html

http://www.dawnsecord.com/galleryhome.html

Friday, February 23, 2018

A painting of Jenny and Troy

This painting had been planned for some time. The family lives in a canyon with an abundance of beautiful plants and scenery. After a few trips walking around their grounds we found the perfect setting. We'd have the dogs sitting on some steps under an arbor. The only down side, was the foliage wasn't in bloom. So, we waited for Spring and the flowers blossomed and we had our background. During one of our discussions, hummingbirds were the topic. It was clear the owners of the dogs had a fondness for hummingbirds. We talked about including a hummer in the foreground and everything just fell into place.

We took photos of the dogs, separately, in a number of locations. It seemed they were really most photogenic and relaxed in the foyer, so those were the photos used.

I'd asked Jenny and Troy's "parents" if I could work on their painting as a demo at the Kennel Club of Palm Springs and they agreed.   I'd worked on the painting off and on during December and then finished it in January.

This painting was absolutely a blast to plan and paint.   Jenny and Troy are amazing dogs and really were cooperative throughout the process.   Thank you to Suzanne and Don for having me paint their "fur" kids!

https://www.facebook.com/DawnSecordArt/?timeline_context_item_type=intro_card_work&timeline_context_item_source=1377402551&pnref=lhc

http://www.dawnsecord.com/dogartgallery.html

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!