Thank you for stopping by my very first blog entry. This post is essentially a quick overview of me painting a custom house portrait in watercolor. There is also a time lapse video of the painting process posted on my Youtube channel below:
Reference Photo
I used a reference photo provided by the buyer who commissioned to recreate this scene. The very first thing I do when beginning to paint a house portrait is correcting its angle and proportions when sketching. When I was starting up with architectural illustrations I would spend hours painting and adding details to the buildings hoping to get a good result in the end. But stepping back a little and looking it from a distance revealed the flaws with proportions, perspectives and angles. I must confess I still struggle with getting the basic line work right but I have grown more aware of it over the years.
Preliminary Washes
After the pencil sketch its time to start with the initial wash. I figured the sky would look good with a hint soft clouds which were not originally present in the photo. I believe it is a good practice to deviate from the reference here and there to give a personal touch rather than reproducing each and every detail. After wetting the surface with clear water I add dabs of ultramarine and Prussian blue using wet in wet technique.
Foliage
Next is the foliage on the left. If you notice the photo you would find sunlight hitting from the top left. Hence we must highlight the top of the bush and add shadow on the right. The overall composition of the scene is made up with muddle tones so I didn’t use any bright colors except for the lemon yellow for plant tops.
Light and Shadows
When painting buildings care should be taken about the direction of sunlight and shadows. In this particular case I painted the house with a light wash of grey all over. Then I painted another light wash on the front face so that it appears to be in shade. Similarly all the awnings cast their shadows at an angle and must be painted with a darker tone. It is a great idea to do a value study of the scene before starting to paint. I’ll make another post on that topic some other time.
Negative Space
The pathway in the front yard is composed of light colored stones and are highlighted in sunlight. To highlight them I left them white by painting around them. Finally adding little details like awning lines, small plants a little bit of texture to the front yard give more depth to the scene.
Background
To denote a sense of visual depth it is a good idea to paint background elements like trees and buildings. Again, I didn’t follow the reference photo to paint the background trees exactly. Just some raw umber and olive green mixed loose and light strokes to give a hint of trees in the back. With a little bit of intuition and experiment we can include our own elements to add more character to the painting.
Final Result
I hope you liked reading this blog post and find it valuable in your journey of painting in watercolor.
If you would like to commission a custom house portrait for yourself or someone you love, feel free me to drop me a line and I’ll get back to you right away with details.
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