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Gundog
: the English Springer Spaniel
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When
I started painting in 1997, the elder artists told me stories
about a famous collector who used to come to the opening of
the Paris Country Show, to buy the best paintings. He used to
buy a lot. One of my friends who used to huntwith him, proposed
to introduce me to this collector if I gave her 15% of all the
business I would make with him."No thanks", I answered,
"the day this man sees my paintings, he will become my
best client".
I didn't see him at my first show in 1997, not even at the second
one, one year later. When I exhibited my very first gundog paintings
in 99, a man spent a long time looking at my dog portraits,
and then told me: "it's too bad, I just gave a commission
for the portrait of my Springer Spaniel to one of your fellow
artists, 10 minutes ago. Next time, I shall choose you."
When he signed my guest-book, I knew I had won my bet and that
the Collector was one of my fans. Alain D. soon
became a good client and finally gave me a commission to paint
his favourite English Springer Spaniel. |
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Detail of the
English Springer Spaniel Painting
Let me show you at first a detail of this
painting. If you are don't like it, don't go further.
You can see the signature in the medal..
For fun, I wrote : "Cyrille Jubert's fan"
This painting was reproduce in the magazine "Shooting gun"
in july 2005
and someone came to see me at the cla Game Fair, to have his
Springer painted the same way. You'll see this new portrait
soon. |
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When Alain prepares his equipment to
go shooting the next day, his English springer spaniel, "Sweep",
lies among the luggage, his head resting on the gun's bag,
to make sure he won't be left behind. Alain, who had English
Springers all his life, never saw any of his gundogs do this.
So, he wanted his pet painted like that. It was his only request.
Besides that, like a real art collector, used to dealing with
artists, he gave me a free hand.
In each of my previous "dog paintings", I tried
to show an interesting armchair in the picture. It allows
me to hang clothes on the arm, to put objects on the seat,
and it gives a vertical dimension, while enriching the scenery.
A few weeks before, I met an antiques merchant, who had a
pair of armchairs from Central Europe, made with deer and
buck horns. They were very interesting, perfect for a sporting
painting and a wink to Alain, who is one of the most conspicuous
huntsmen in France. I borrowed one of the armchairs and brought
it to Alain's house in the forest of Compiegne, to take a
few photos. Slide your mouse on the painting to see the reference
photo. Here is this curious armchair. The seat and back are
covered with buck fur.
Kitschy, isn't it ? 
but original and fun to paint !
As you can see on the reference photo (underneath), the
artist had to prove his imagination. Try to find all the difference
between the photo and the painting.
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As the room was very dark, my photos taken
without a flash were horrible but those with a flash were
worse. I had to go back on a sunny day to take photos of
the dog and the bag outside in the sunshine. I went on a
saturday afternoon. Alain had played golf in the morning,
with his English Springer Spaniel and the dog was so tired,
that I had a very hard time taking a single photo with his
eyes open.
So, dear fan, who intends to give me a commission soon,
never let your dog play golf when I'm on the way to take
photos of him.
Great photo, isn't it ?
But far from being perfect for me. While taking the snapshot,
I didn't notice that the cap was so, hiding Alain's hunting
"tiepin" and his sporting club badges.
The gun bag didn't have the same position that on the above
photo and the dog's body couldn't match either in the previous
stage.
It gave me headaches for days trying to match all these
details in one drawing.
While you 're here, have a closer look
to the grain of the calf leather.
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When I started
this painting, I had a great contact with an American agent,
who launched an hyper realist wildlife painter who is now
a super-star. She visited my exhibition in Brussels, examinating
my paintings with a sharp professional eye. On one of the
paintings, she found a fault on the back leg of one of the
six dogs. I decided to paint this picture especially for her
eyes, giving the best of my know-how, so she could-n't say
anything else than "Bravo".
The whole painting took more than 3 months, the bag itself
took 15 days.. It 's perhap's the craziest work I've ever
painted.
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I don't want to bother you...
I have very close details, showing an enlarged image of
the interlaced thread of the seam ...
Does it really bother you ? mmmmm ?
I'm so proud of my work, let's have a quick glance
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I don't want to bother you...
I have closer details, showing an enlarged image of the
braiding of the thread .
No. that's a joke too..
Believe me : it 's a great job !
Always say good things about yourself,
people will repeat it
and everyone will forget who said it first
You may say good things too, I love it !
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On the right, a new painting "pets
in a garden"
with of course, its story
follow
the guide
On the left, a previous Springer portrait
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