It is FREEZING in Southern California

Yesterday morning we woke to ice on our cars, ice on the grass, and an outside thermostat that read 32 degrees.

This morning it was a bit warmer - maybe 34 or 35 degrees outside. Baby Faith is ready for the weather. We have her in a fleece jacket. She now has three jackets. Two fashion jackets from my mom and this fleece hand me down from when Monet was a pup.

Hope things warm up quickly or I'll think I'm back in Texas!

Hiking with Four Dogs

Every Friday one of my girlfriend's and I get together for coffee. We each usually bring a dog or two,

Today we each showed up with two dogs. One of her dogs is a ten month old Aussie Shepherd. I had two year old Drew and twenty week old Faith. Hum...three young dogs is a mixture for disaster.

They were trying to play with each other instead of walking. At some point I tried to take a photo with my cell phone while holding two leashes.....photo attached.

The end result was no wiped out dog walkers and four tired puppy dogs.

Happy New Year!

Secord dogs

I was training our puppy, Faith, in our bathroom using treats. The bathroom is sectioned off from the dogs because our cat box is in there. For those of you who own both dogs and cats....no further explanation is needed.

So, before bedtime Faith goes in the with me and plays. For pups, I use a lot of food rewards when training (which we will graduate away from as they get older). Love and cuddles are are great training tool for the older ones. We had an audience during our training don't cha think!! ha ha

Miniature Schnauzer

This little girl is a Miniature Schnauzer and her portrait was a Christmas present. The recipients were very surprised when given the painting. They said it looked just like her and they could not believe how realistic the painting is.

If you are interested in commissioning a portrait of a dog as a gift, I do have gift certificates available. For more information on commissioning a portrait please click here: http://www.dawnsecord.com/commissioninformation.html

Wishing you a Happy New Year!

Rich and baby Faith

Rich and I decided to get Faith and have her be our Christmas present to each other. Do you think my husband likes his present?

jewel and monet

Jewel and Monet had a very busy Christmas day. Like most of us...they are exhausted!

Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas!!

This model is our new puppy, Faith. She turned 18 weeks old yesterday. We've been working on "stay" and "wait" for her modeling career. My dogs are used for models for my paintings and it is never too early to start teaching them.

I put Faith under the tree with no decorations and no ribbon on her and told her to "wait". It took just a few tries to get the idea into her baby mind. Then I put the gifts around the tree and the bow around her neck.

All was going well until our young cat, Lacey, decided to get under the tree while we were taking photos. I took over 100 photos and Faith got up only twice (once enticed by the tricky feline).

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Tuxedo Kittens in Oil

This larger than life painting of two tuxedo kittens was done in oil. It is another piece for the corporate commission that I am working on.

The painting is three feet wide by two feet tall. A number of photos of the two kittens were supplied by the collector. One kitten has a narrower face as in a Siamese and the other kitten has a round face. The markings are very close so I relied on the face shape to assist me in keeping track of which kitten was in each photo. Ultimately, I chose two poses that were from two different photos.

My initial sketch was in pencil. If you notice the eyes on the sketch and look at the final painting - there was some adjustment done to the eye shape during the painting process. I sometimes flip my paintings upside down during the process to double check details. It was during one of these "upside down" times that I noticed the eye shape was not what I wanted it to be. One nice thing about painting in oil is the ability to change just about anything during the course of the painting. Pastels are not quite so user friendly!

Thanks for taking a peek at the kittens!

It was a lot of fun to paint.

Texas Boathouse

This is the final painting in the landscape series I've been working on. It is the boat house at Eagle's Nest Preserve in North Texas. The painting is to be a gift for my dearest friend's parents.

The interesting part of the painting was the current in the water around the boathouse. If you look across the lake you'll notice the water is still. I could have changed the painting and had all the water still and reflective - but the movement of the water was one of the things that made this reference material so interesting.

The painting started with a colorful under painting of pastel glazed with turpenoid. The turpenoid allowed the pastel to become liquid much like I have done with acrylic and watercolor under paintings. Once the under painting dried the layering of pastel began working from top to bottom.

The pastel under painting included the use of salmon hues in some areas, blues, purples and greens. The goal was to have some of the under painting shine through the finished painting in key locations. In some areas I wanted a complimentary color to show - such as salmon under green. In other areas I used deep purple under the foliage and water to create a feeling of depth. There was to be a lot of green reflections in the water so I chose to have a green under painting for the water.

Thank you for taking a peek!

Yellow Labrador Retriever

This is the second painting of Syrah. The first painting showed her as a young dog in a meadow surrounded by brilliant purple blooms.

In this painting the owners wanted to reflect Syrah as she is today - 14 years old. We took a volume of photos of her. We photographed her in her home in several rooms, outside in the front yard, on the side yard under the arbor and the cherry tree blossoms, in the backyard on a chaise lounge. There was one photo that was precious to her owner and it was a photo taken at a down angle. (this was a private photo taken by the owners)

We all went back and forth discussing what photo would best capture Syrah at this point in time. The background of the painting was definitely going to be the arbor and the cherry blossoms. That simple fact knocked out the favorite photo taken by her owners looking down on Syrah (which is used as her computer screen saver).

The final decision was to use all the photos. I had taken a photo of Syrah laying under the dining room table with her woobie toy as a pillow. The angle would work for the cherry blossom background. The favored "screen saver" photo would be used to adjust the chiseling on her face and capture the her beautiful. Working with her owners to accomplish this painting was a joy and we are all very happy with the results.

Irish Setter Painting "Sweet Dreams"

The limited edition for my painting, "Sweet Dreams", is getting very close to being sold out.

For Christmas this year, we are offering free shipping on in-stock artwork if ordered by December 15, 2010 and shipped within the continental USA.

On a fun note, "Sweet Dreams" has been added to my cafepress store. The artwork is featured on gift items such as clothing items, cups and bags.

To order limited edition prints click here: Http://www.dawnsecord.com/printsforsale.html

To go to my cafepress store click here: Http://www.cafepress.com/dawnsecord

Labrador Painting is Finished

I've spent some time on this painting. The art collector commissioned two portraits of their Labrador Retriever. The first painting (seen here) features the dog in its adolescence. The second portrait will feature the dog as she is currently at 14 years of age.

The background of this painting is a meadow behind their home. In the reference photo the skyline is almost nonexistent with a slight splash of blue clouds in one small corner. Also, the meadow is laden with the beautiful blooms shown in the painting. However, the blooms were minimized in the painting. The bright color of the blooms combined with the thick blanket of them in the reference photo somewhat stole the show from the dog.

To ensure the dog was the focal point, the blossoms were minimized. The skyline was also greatly increased with a change in direction to draw the view into the focal point.

Gift items with an image of this painting are on my cafepress store at http://www.cafepress.com/dawnsecord

Now off to wrap the painting for delivery and finish portrait number 2.

English Springer Spaniel

I'm trying to constantly add new images of my art to the Dawn Secord cafepress store before we get to the holidays.

Today the English Springer Spaniel was added to the store and will be available on a number of gift items.

To see the gift items available go to http://www.cafepress.com/dawnsecord

Check back now and then to see what new images of my artwork are available.

Have a great day!

Happy Birthday Monet!

Today is Monet's 4th birthday. We are going to take her to the pet store and let her get a new toy. She wants to drive there....ha ha.

Where did the time go....and hopefully, going forward, it slows down a bit.

Labrador Retriever Painting in process

I've been working on this painting for a number of days now - long days (not an hour here or there - more like 10 hours a day. My arm is sore and my eye hurts.... goes along with the territory)

The reference photo is an old photo that was taken on a very sunny morning. As a result one side of the dog's face is too shadowed and the other side is almost whited out. So, my quest is to balance the lighting while maintaining the wonderful effects the light has created with the shadows.

On the right side of the dog's face I've reduced the shadows and brought the eye more into view. On the left side of the dog's face (the right side of the painting) I've found the bone structure of the dog and brought in slight shadows. These shadows will give the dog's face depth and roundness instead of a flat light area.

I've also eliminated the collar. Some people prefer the collars be left on their dogs in my paintings. That is a personal choice - no wrong or right answer. In this particular painting the dog's owners wanted the collar off.

Will post more as the painting develops.