The last portrait is out and a new one is in.

Pencil drawing

On the day I mailed the last commission, I started another.  At 20″X14″, this is a large one.  I rarely do something this big.  When I point out to a potential client that the framed painting would be about 24″X18″, some reconsider.  A piece of art that big really needs its space. However, in this case, it will be hung over a king sized bed so it should be fine.

This a gift for a parent selling the  long time family home and it has an unusual addition.  The barn was added as a special memory even though it is not located exactly where it is placed.  We went through several renditions of the barn’s size and exact location before it finally ended up there, looking like that.  It was hard not to make it a second focal point and I will have to leave it a little bit softer so it doesn’t take too much attention away from the house.  After a day of inking, I am only about 20% or done.  Slow going.  There is a lot of landscaping in there and I am combining some photos, so I have to be careful with the perspective.

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Commission finished

First layer of color

Finished

I finished this smaller commission and am pretty happy with it.  As an end unit of an apartment or condo building there were few special features to highlight and I had to guard against everything just looking cut off.  There was another door just to the left of the one shown, so I couldn’t even move it over to center it a bit more.

I was forced to maximize what I had. The shrubs and flowers helped, along with the concrete frog, but with the doorway off to the side, I had to make sure the colors were especially appealing. The green canopies sure helped.    I don’t know what I would have done without them to liven up the exterior.

Still, it is someone’s treasured home and I hope I did justice to it.

New commission

Penciled up

Inked in

I was just fussing around in the studio last month, trying to decide on some new marketing strategies for my artwork, when I got a new portrait commission.  It is a simple brick, end apartment/condo in Philadelphia that someone must have wonderful memories of.

At only 8×10, it didn’t take long to pencil up and ink in.  One detail that may not show up too clearly is that there is a big concrete frog in front of the flower pot.  It’s kind of hard to see it in the pictures, but it does liven up what is mostly a lava rock landscape with just a little flower bed next to the left shrub and railing.

New home portrait for Boise Idaho has been mailed

Finished

My second home portrait Christmas commission is finished and gone.  As it was a new build, I enlarged the landscaping and greened up the grass to help it settle into the landscape.  It was kind of fun to do a portrait from a far away place that I had actually visited near.

I did hear from the client that it safely arrived and that she was delighted.  I had wrapped it so that she couldn’t see it directly on opening the shipping box and she said it was like her own Christmas!  So happy she is happy.

Boise home commission

Little house in the foothills

Inked in

Shortly after I received the OPO commission, a second Christmas house commission popped up.   Unbeknownst to this client at the time, I have a personal connection to Boise, Idaho, where this home was just built. As some of you may know, my son and his family moved out there last year for a new job and we have visited them several times already.  It was fun to draw this home located in the foothills of Boise which I have hiked in ever so briefly while I was there.

Since it was a new build, the client was able to get me the paint chip number for the siding paint.  It was much easier to get the color on the exterior right with that reference as the colors in a photograph are not always true.  Watercolor next.

Final of three

Finished two story

This one made it by Christmas, too.  It was for the client’s grandmother and she was thrilled.  So many memories were held by that simple front porch, it seems.

In a funny mix-up, I got paid twice for the painting.  I shipped it to my client’s father for wrapping, but he thought the packing list was a bill and sent me a check for it!!  We all had a good laugh –  and then I shredded it.

Final of 2

All done

The watercolor of number two was sky blue and white.  I ended up adding some flowers in the front for a little pop of color.  This was a well timed gift.  The parents closed on selling their longtime home on December 23 and their adult children were able to give this to them on Christmas day.  I am so glad it worked out that way.  USPS really came through for me this holiday season.