Western house commission

Pencil drawing

Inked up

I had a bit of delay with getting the photos, but now I am on this latest commission from Nevada. It is pretty simple, all things considered.  I do kind of miss doing grass and trees, but it is good to see someone working with what is more natural to the area.

Finished pastel

Finished pastel

The second one was a pastel and I had a devil of a time with the colors.  The upper siding was a beige color with the garage doors and trim brown.  Add in the green door and shutters, the cream/red/brown brick, and it was quite the mix.  I ended up starting with the red brick, then moving to the brown and green accents, and finally to the siding.  I kept having to erase the color overmarks onto the light siding area and figured I would just leave it until last.  Then the shading ended up being too red and I had to shade it back towards the blue.  Finally, after fussing a bit, I decided I was done.

I do like to do the pastels for the coloring on the larger ones (14X9 and above.)  I think it allows a richer color from the gloss fixative compared to the watercolors.  The only drawback is the fixative spray has quite the obnoxious odor.  I try to spray outside, but that is not always possible in the winter. Then it’s off to the storeroom with a slightly opened window for a bit of cold air exchange.

 

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.

Christmas commission 2

Pencil drawing

Pen before the watercolor

December commission two was medium sized at 10×8, but it too needed to have the landscaping cut back some.  The two trees in front covered most of the upper story so I moved the right one over a bit and lessened the spread of the left one.  Also, that let me show the bench and woodpile on the left part of the porch.

Lots of grass blades here so while I waited on some questions being answered, I went ahead and started those little strokes that seem to take longer than the rest of the landscaping put together.  I don’t mind it though.  I find it’s kind of relaxing creating all that randomness.

All five, finished

Florida 1

Florida 2

Georgia

South Carolina

Florida 3

All the portraits are done and were in the hands of the buyer well before Christmas. I received a photo of them framed and hung at the base of her stairway, where they can be viewed daily. The 8×10 with frame was the perfect size for the area and they look great, if I do say so myself.

While very fun to do, each portrait had its own difficulties attached, not the least of which was color. The Floridas 2 and 3 and the South Carolina house were related to me as muddy taupe, but the photos showed mostly a pinkish tone to everything.  And what the heck is taupe anyway?  I should have asked her to go to one of the big box home improvement stores and pick out a paint chip, but, alas, I thought of that too late. Fortunately, my guesses must have been okay because the buyer was pleased.

Florida 1 had a mixture of landscaping and paint combinations that varied in the reference photos, so I had to find out what was apropos for when she lived there.

The Georgia house had lots of flowers (potted and otherwise) and bentwood porch furniture to add.  The house color was to be a brownish yellow, but the flowers were to be the special feature.

All in all, it was the largest commission I have ever done, but it was well worth all of the difficulty and hard work.  When the buyer saw the pictures she cried with pleasure.  It’s one of the reasons I love my work.

I finished the dog portrait

Peiper

Silly me. In my eagerness to start the watercolors, I forgot to photograph the inked phase, so here is the finished portrait.  What a cute little dog this is.  After I started the watercolors, the overhead perspective from the photo made her harness start to look more and more like a neckerchief.  I had to widen the base somewhat to make it look right.  It wasn’t so apparent in the pencil up or even the inking, but about half way through the watercolors, the orange harness fabric started to bother me.  I widened the base with the ink.  Fortunately, that area is in shadow, so I could get away with it.  In the end, I am pleased with it.

Gizmo done

Gizmo

I finished Gizmo’s watercolor portrait, and I must say, I like it much better than the acrylic one.  I was able to be much more delicate in depicting him – and he was a very delicate little guy.  I think for portraiture (both pet and architectural) that pen and ink with the watercolor or pastel overlay is much more suited to my style.  I really need to take an acrylic class and get a better idea of technique.