Signage at the Veterinary Hospital

Recently, I was asked to do some signage at a local animal hospital ( for our personal veterinarian). They have two waiting areas. One area is specifically reserved for cat clients and one area for dog clients. There was some informal signage, but nothing that was really visible.

At first my plan was to free style paint directly on the walls. I thought about stencils but wanted something a bit more original. There was a small dilemma for me while I was planning out the spacing and direction of the wording. Thinking ahead, what would the clinic do when they decided to repaint the walls? If I painted directly on the walls then the painters would have to paint around my lettering. That made my proposed lettering perhaps not a permanent fixture in the clinic.

So, I went to a local craft store to check out options. I found some raised lettering which was perfect. The lettering could be nailed on the walls so it could be removed if and when the clinic decided to repaint the walls themselves. The letters I chose were painted white. It made sense to leave the sides of the lettering white so if the painters were to repaint the walls, they would not need to worry about getting the white paint of the walls on the sides of the lettering.

I sponged the faces of the lettering with brown acrylic mural paint. Then, on the larger letters, I free hand painted paw prints. The clinic manager was very happy with the out come.

The photos show the lettering on my floor before painting, after painting and then being mounted on the walls in the clinic. It was raining today and mounting the letters in the clinic was a perfect way to spend a rainy Sunday.

Secord Dogs out having Fun

Our dogs were busy today. Rich took Drew to learn to work in the field. Drew took to it like a duck takes to water. Rich let Drew loose in the field and Drew immediately took off with his tail up and wagging like crazy. That dog started working the field like he'd done this before which he had not. This was his first time out. The trainers were surprised at Drew's confidence and drive. Rich said he was impressed with how keen Drew's instinct was. They were gone for hours. So, the boys had fun being boys. I bet they both sleep well tonight!

I took Monet out to a conformation show. She showed her little heart out and received lots of compliments from fellow exhibitors. Monet hasn't been shown in a while and boy did she have fun. I could not have asked for anything else from her. I really felt we had some great team work. She picked up another point towards her Grand Championship by going Select. The girls had a fun day too! Monet does not want to be a couch....ooops....."studio potato"!

Jewel is 12 years old today!

Jewel, our little princess, is 12 years old today.

This photo is from last month when we were in Palm Springs. Jewel doesn't lay on the ground don't cha know. She is a princess. She has to be on a chair, even if she doesn't fit, or on a sofa or the bed or anything that she deems is appropriate. Jewel is my special girl!

She and I have had so many memories - we've done a commercial for Animal Planet, a dog reality show that aired - through Fox TV, been my spokes model for several TV appearances, she's won a Best in Show, Best in Specialty Show and Best of Opposite Sex at the 2003 AKC Eukanuba Dog Show as well as a therapy dog.

She is my constant companion, my Velcro dog, a trash stealer and if given too much freedom wreaks havoc in the household. I love her with all my heart.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEWEL! aka "BIS BISS CH Rendition Treasured Moment CGC TDI"

Krista: Gordon Setter

This is Krista. Her painting has been in process for awhile. Krista passed away a number of years ago and her owner had been trying to find more pictures of her for reference material.

Her photos were before the "digital" camera age so most of the photos were small snap shots. Krista was also blind so many of the photos did not show her true eye color. Her owner was not quite sure how the eyes would turn out.

Krista was a fun and comical dog. There were some conventional photos of Krista that showed what one would expect for a head shot portrait. However, the reference photo chosen allowed us to see the side of Krista that was so special to her owners.

When she came to pick up the painting in Palm Springs, she was teary eyed. She told me the painting looked just like Krista and the eyes were correct. It is always such a humbling experience to paint someone's beloved pet. Thank you to Krista's owners for this honor.

The Girls of Tuesday

This is a painting of three litter mates - Irish Setters. The theme of this litter was New Orleans. I have shown against these dogs for a few years and have enjoyed getting to know them. When their owner asked me to paint the girls I was thrilled.

We took quite a few photos. The hard part was choosing which photos we collectively liked best. And...there were a number of them!! My goal is to not reproduce a photo - my goal is to make a painting using a photo as reference material. If you look at the photos and the final painting you'll see shadows in the photos that are not in the painting, colors in the painting that are not in the photos, high lights in the painting that differ from the photos and most importantly - the eyes have a life like quality.

For the background, the owner of the dogs wanted something to do with New Orleans. We toyed with making the background the French Quarter and having Mardi Gras beads around their necks. (well....the beads were my idea - over zealous with the theme!)

Ultimately, we both felt a gentle landscape was the best choice. As a surprise, I added the Spanish Moss hanging from the trees. When I've traveled through Louisiana, the hanging moss has always fascinated me. It gives the trees a very gentle dreamy quality.

Thank you for taking a peek!

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.