Pastel Finish

All done with this one. I am glad that the trees were purplish to add some color. There wasn’t much in the way of flowers or contrast on the home exterior to break up all of the gray and white, so having the extra tree color was a great thing. I ended up using some brown to tone down the pinks and purples and that seemed to work out well.

The second commission of the year

Inked in

Penciled up

I have to take a brief break from finishing the Boise painting because I just got another home commission. And after the complexity of the last one, this commission seems a lot easier. Even with all of the hip roof lines, dormers, and stone, the layout and inking didn’t take very long. It is a good thing the front ornamental trees are purplish, though. The house is white stone and with gray and white siding above. It would have been pretty dichromatic with just the green and white.

A pretty big and complicated commission

Courtyard expanse

10 days of inking

Original pencil up

Well, I have been fairly quiet on the posting front due to this large and complicated commission. It’s not only 20X14 but probably the most difficult thing I have ever done. It also took the most time I have ever put into a commission – 3 weeks in total. I worked on the pencil drawing over 4 days, the inking for ten and the coloring for five. Not much idle time. I tended work in two sessions a day to keep my mind fresh. It was too easy to get mesmerized and lose track of exactly what I was doing and make mistakes, especially during the inking. Still it was fun to do and I am proud of the outcome.

Finished #4 Christmas commission

Well, it’s done and with the client in time for Christmas. Thank you USPS. I like the interplay of the brick, the stone, and stucco with all of the curves in the facade and on the roof. That is one complicated chimney too, with the double flues and stepped rise. The flowered shrubs add a bit of color accent which is always good. It is certainly one of the more interesting portraits I have done in a while.

Number four for the holidays.

Inked

Pencil drawing

This is definitely the biggest and most complicated of the four Christmas commissions. What number three lacked in complexity, this made up for in spades.It has brickwork, stonework, a large chimney, and multiple gables and roof lines. It took an extra day to draw up and two more days to ink. At least it is a 14X9 instead of 10X8. So much detail here.

I did like the “wave” in the limestone blocks transition to brick and the random placement of white limestone into the bricks. It will be easier to see in the color version (pastel again).

Commission Three

Finished with the little light addition.

It’s done and they are happy. I managed to integrate the lamp post okay. Using pastels rather than watercolors helped some, I think. The important thing was that I was able to and it made the client satisfied. He also wanted a bright spring look so I didn’t add in as much shading as I normally would. One more to go for the Christmas season.

Finished the Tudor

Inked up

It took a while, but this commission is finished. I loved all of the textures involved. Stone, brick, timbers, and slate. A lovely combination of colors, too. While I wish there more flowers here, the shrubs and mature trees add to it as well.

A commission after my August vacation

Tudor pencil up

After visiting with family and friends for most of August, I finally got back into the studio this week. It’s a nice big one so I will be busy for a bit with the pen and ink and pastels. The purchaser kindly waited for my return and I am glad to be back in at my drafting table. I was starting to miss it.

Finished

Inked in

Finished pastel

I was visiting with family in Idaho for the last 10 days so there was no delay on finishing this one the beginning of the month.  I had a problem with uploading the final photo before I left on the 9th, so it had to sit until I got back and could try to fix it.  Miracle of miracles, everything is fine now.  

This was hard from the standpoint of the fence in front.  The space in between the verticals was really too small for a great deal of pastel work, so I put down a base layer with some watercolors.  It turned out to be a good way to handle it.  

Then the photos showed a little bit of a discrepancy on the green board and batten on the second floor.  Some photos showed it to be more of a yellow green and in others, it was more teal green.  I made it more teal as that was the most common in the pics.  I asked for verification of the color and she said it was more yellow.  What to do.  I put a light layer of yellow colored pencil over it and when I took it in, she said it was perfect  What a relief.  

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.