Art of the Dog: Dawn Secord: newfie

Friday, August 19, 2011

Newfie painting almost finished

This painting is of D'arcy. She was an awesome girl and I was so happy to have been able to meet her. She just wasn't with us long enough. For her painting, her human parents wanted to use this photo of her with her toy as the reference pose. We had taken quite a lot of photos of her. The toy photo just tugged at their hearts.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Newfoundland Pastel Painting

This painting was recently completed. The upper image is the completed painting. The lower image is one of the reference photos used for the painting.

Since Newfoundlands are water dogs, it was decided to have a water scene as the background. The dog's owners live in Southern California so I used some reference photos of surf I'd taken from Laguna Beach several years prior.

The dog's right eye was partially obscured by her coat. In the painting, I cleaned that area up a bit so both eyes were clearly visible. The bright morning light shown too much on her coat casting a silver look. Thus, the photos neglected to reflect her deep black coat. In her painting, the color of the coat is more accurate.

If you are interested in having me paint your dog please call or send me an email. 909-393-7111 or fff@linkline.com

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!