Red brick

Red brick facade

All finished with this traditional Southern red brick home. These bricks commonly feature an even coloration with not a lot of variation to it. The bay bump out and the half round window tops add lots of visual interest. That must be a rather spectacular two story foyer for an entranceway, too. Don’t forget to notice the angled soldier brick courses with a limestone keystone above the windows and garage doors. Lots of details added to make this a lovely home for a family to grow in.

Not a great deal of landscaping in the front, but it is still welcoming. The pink/white flowers are azaleas, another common southern home feature. I have tried to grow them up here in Indiana, but the are super sensitive to frost and often get burned. A large, blooming spring azalea is something to see after a dark and gloomy winter.

New Home Portrait Commission at Last

Two story home

I started work on a new home portrait commission over the weekend.  It is so nice to be able to do something new – and 14×9 too boot!  Lots of detail in this one.  Stone first story and board and batted upper, along with a cream picket fence all across the front.  No flowers, but nicely colored trees and shrubs, along with flags for the fourth.

Inked up commission

Preliminary inking

Here is the home portrait, mostly inked up. I have to add some daffodils at the bottom and the 6 panel door.  The flowers used to be in a fenced bed.  That landscaping feature is now gone, but the daffodils continue to come up in the spring right in the lawn.  I know the seasons are a little mixed here – daffodils usually come up before the trees are fully leafed out – but the buyer and her family hold them as a special memory, along with the tree face, and wanted to include them.  Easily done.

As you can see, the house is a mid century modern tri-level.  It has an interesting mix of orangish field stone, red brick and siding.  I may increase the size of the tree off to the upper left.  It looks a little unbalanced in the overall scheme of things but I’ll decide as I start the watercolors.

A plethora of work on the table

The first commission

I had to be out of town for a week and while I was gone, I received 2 commissions for Christmas gifts.  I was glad to get home and get started.

I worked up the pencil sketch for the first one from the photos she sent, but I have to wait for her to answer some questions about the windows and siding before I can start the inking. Because of the time crunch, I have also started figuring out the next one.  It is a strip mall , so it will be longer and more narrow than the normal portrait. I may end up posting alternately for the 2 depending on the lag in information.  It’s fun to have commissioned work again, but I’ll have to work steadily to get them done.