Southlands Residential Care Home in Bolton has just celebrated its 25 years anniversary and I was commissioned to paint this watercolour house portrait of the home for the owner as a surprise present. Southlands has been a family run business for the last 25 years so it was nice to commemorate the anniversary with this painting. Here are a few close up details of the watercolour: The house portrait now hangs proudly on the wall with the owner who was thrilled to bits when she received the portrait. It's always nice to get positive feedback from clients especially to hear the reactions when a portrait is given as a gift. http://www.portraits-online.com/art-blog/watercolour-painting-of-a-residential-care-home
A recent pencil drawing I drew of an English tudor revival house (or mock tudor style). I particularly like drawing houses with lots of brickwork like here because it gives me the chance to use the hard / soft pencil relief method. This involves drawing the mortar joints first, which are often lighter in colour, with a hard 2H pencil with just enough pressure to leave a slight indentation in the drawing paper. Because a 2H pencil is hard, it leaves a depression but with a lighter mark on the paper than with softer pencils. I then use much softer ( and darker) 6B to 8B pencil to draw over the top of these brickwork lines which only leaves a pencil mark on the higher relief areas of the paper and not in the mortar joint lines that were drawn with the 2H pencil. I hope that makes sense?... The problem is that sometimes the mortar joints appear darker than the brick, either because they were built that way or due to weathering or light conditions. This was the case with this house and it requires a second phase of sketching back through the mortar lines with a soft 6B pencil to make them darker where necessary. If you used a dark pencil at the beginning to make the indentation in the paper the results would be too overpowering and 'flat'. You can see in the image above that this technique has been used in the mullioned windows too, but this time they are lighter than the strong shadows of the glass panes and only a 2H pencil was used for the mullion. If you would like to see more examples of my house portrait drawings and paintings visit my portfolio page. http://www.portraits-online.com/art-blog/english-tudor-revival-house-pencil-drawing When painting windows you will often notice that the higher windows are are almost white because of the glass reflection from the sky. In the image above you can see the transition from light to dark in the glass. The darker shadows in window panes are often created because of trees or neighbouring buildings. Curtains, internal features and indoor lighting levels behind the glass also have an effect on the amount of reflection too. Another house portrait in watercolour paint, this time the house is located in Zurich, Switzerland. This Zurich House has typical green painted window shutters and the steep roof with dormer windows. The painting angle is slightly offset so that you can just see the side of the building and other houses in the background. This often makes for a more interesting composition for house portraits. Details such as planting in pots and stonework on the driveway for example often help to add more depth and interest to a house portrait painting. When painting windows you will often notice that the higher windows are are almost white because of the glass reflection from the sky. In the image above you can see the transition from light to dark in the glass. The darker shadows in window panes are often created because of trees or neighboring buildings. Curtains, internal features and indoor lighting levels behind the glass also have an effect on the amount of reflection too. The lower windows, as shown here, often have much darker window panes because there is no light reflection from the sky. The reason for this is that the angle of the portrait is mostly taken at eye level of a person standing at ground level. Because light travels in straight lines, so do the reflections that we see in windows, so the most likely reflections we see in a ground floor window are the street or garden trees behind you. http://www.portraits-online.com/art-blog/zurich-house-portrait-painted-in-watercolour
A recent building sketch I completed is now available in an unusual form - printed on chocolate! I was asked to create a sketch of the Bavarian castle 'Burg Gruttenstein' located high up above the old salt town of Bad Reichenhall. It had to be drawn from an unusual angle that is not normally seen from close up because of the steep terrain and surrounding trees. The sketch was then sent to Switzerland to be printed in chocolate on white chocolate 'rounds' before being stuck (with chocolate again) onto hand made chocolates by Zorn Chocolaterie Swiss Art Gmbh in Bad Reichenhall. The first chocolates were handed out as part of a special 'Hoftag' celebration on Saturday 1 June to an awaiting crowd of medieval Knights on a tour through the old town, and the castle sketch motif is to be adopted as the new motif for Burg Gruttenstein castle itself. The chocolates are now available from 'Zorn Chocolaterie Swiss Art Gmbh' in Bad Reichenhall as part of a special gift set. Other chocolates in the series include the 'Alte Saline' in Bad Reichenhall. http://www.portraits-online.com/art-blog/bavarian-castle-burg-gruttenstein-sketch-printed-on-chocolate A sketch of a timber house I drew for a client in the USA. House sketches are often ordered in digital format only because the client wants to print the sketch themselves for a specific purpose, or use the sketch in digital format on a business website for example. With a sketch drawing style the details can be drawn much looser and quicker than a full highly details pencil drawing, It all depends on the purpose of the drawing and personal preference. Sketches do not lack detail; they are simply drawn to suggest detail with enough dark line or white space to suggest what is there in reality. The balcony for example with very simple line but it is enough to show the structure. The planting in both the image above and below need just enough detail to suggest the form, light and shadow but not too much that it distracts from the house itself. If you would like a sketch of a house too then send me an email of give me a call to discuss your ideas. If you want the house sketch in digital format only, please let me know in advance and I'll scan the sketch at high resolution to send it to you by email. http://www.portraits-online.com/art-blog/sketch-of-a-timber-house-in-the-us
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