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.

A painting of Guinness for Celeste

A dear friend, Celeste, has been so patiently waiting for the painting of her beloved horse, Guinness.   He had been a member of her family for many years. 

When the painting was in process, Celeste shared this with me about Guinness (she was mentioning the person who owned him prior to her):

I bought him when he was nine.   He had been on a friend's farm from a youngster, trained and shown by her.  So, she knew him well.  That is probably why he was so hot and forward as that was they way she liked her horses.  He was an exciting ride and the kindest horse I ever knew on the ground.

People who own horses understand they are like a big dog.  They know who you are and love you.  When I was growing up in Texas, I had a friend who had gotten a working horse from a cattle ranch.  The horse's owner passed away out on the range and the horse stayed with him until someone came and found them.

The bond between a horse and owner can be as close as with any other animal.   

The reference photo is shown above.  This photo was taken before our wonderful digital cameras and was a 3" x 5" photo.   Guinness had gotten into the house.    No surprise there (he sounds like he was quite the character)!  My challenges were to overcome the lighting caused by the flash and to see his bone structure hidden  under his halter.    It all came together and I can't wait for Celeste to see the painting in person!

Thank you Celeste for having me paint your special boy! 

Johnny RIngo - A Roping Horse

This is a painting of Johnny Ringo.  The painting was a surprise Christmas gift from two loving daughters to their father.  

The daughters had Johnny Ringo bathed and groomed and met me at the stable.   We took a number of photos of him - inside the barn - outside the barn - in a halter - bridled up.   After reviewing the photos we all agreed on a photo of him in full tack. 

He was such a trooper during our photo shoot. 

Thank you girls for having my art be part of a special gift to a wonderful man whom we affectionately

Tacking up Johnny Ringo

Johnny Ringo ready for photos

Did he just give me the raspberry???

Portrait of Johnny Ringo

refer to as Cowboy Ed.

Nick - English Setter

This portrait of Nick was painted in pastel. I had met Nick's family while traveling in Michigan. They had come to my art booth and mentioned they had a dog named Nick that they wanted painted as a gift. The next day they returned with a photograph that was amazing - a small snapshot actually. The lights and darks were a great contrast - his ears were blowing in the wind and Nick had a relaxed facial expression.

I readily agreed to use the photo as reference for the painting. My one and only concern was Nick's open mouth. The last thing I wanted the focal point to be in the painting was a red tongue smack dab in the middle of the painting. To avoid such I subdued the colors of his gums and tongue and emphasized the whites in his face.

The painting came out nicely and the recipients of the gift were more than pleased.

To see more English Setter art or Sporting Dog art - please visit my dog art gallery.

On her website Dawn has cat art, horse art, bird art, still life paintings, landscape paintings, beach paintings and people portraits.

Buzzy the Thoroughbred

Buzzy's portrait was just completed. Buzzy had been a race track horse and is now used for competitive riding.

I took over 100 photos when photographing him for a portrait. His owner had me take photos of him in his English bridle, posing with their dog, standing freely and running in the arena. The photos were taken mid morning and the sun was just peeking over the hills and had cast back lighting on Buzzy as he ran towards me. The natural lighting effect was spectacular and ultimately played a large role in which photo was chosen to be painted. He is a very kind horse with an edge of energy. This painting shows both sides of him.