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 Oscar and Scooter.

This painting was commissioned to be given as a gift.

Within a year's time, the recipient of the painting lost her beloved dog, Oscar, and her horse, Scooter.

What a huge loss.  My heart always hurts when hearing of the loss of another person's pet. I hope my art will help soothe their pain.   If not now, hopefully in the future when their heart is healing.

I asked the gift giver to share a little bit about Oscar and Scooter, this is what she told me:

Oscar was a rescue that my friend Christy took in many years ago.  Oscar did agility but as Christy would say, he did it because he wanted to please her.  Oscar was retired after receiving his PACH and was Christy’s constant companion. He loved going to the barn to be with his horse, Scooter, but most of all he loved Christy.  Oscar was an easy going dog that was loved by all that knew him.  Unfortunately, Oscar died suddenly earlier this year and left us heartbroken.  He was one of a kind and is missed each and every day.

Hoping Oscar and Scooter are running again, together, in lovely green pastures.

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.