Custom Home Portrait in Watercolor

I recently completed a home portrait custom painting. It was ordered as a gift for a family who had to move away from the home they loved. When the client saw the finished piece, she said, "Janet, The portrait is perfect! It will bring some wonderful memories to her and her daughters."
I hope it does!

Read on to see how I painted this portrait. Or skip to the finished piece.

Portrait of a New England Ranch Home in Watercolor

A home where children have grown up holds a lot of emotion for a family: fond memories of parents, siblings, holidays and all the events of childhood.

It is especially poignant when the children have grown, the parents have moved to assisted living or have passed away.

The request for this home portrait came from such a family - they remember their home with great fondness and wanted to give a painting of it to their mother after the house was sold.

Home Portrait Painting in Watercolor

The initial drawing is done for this portrait of a California home and in this post, I'll show you how I did the watercolor.

Since there was a big tree blocking the view of the house from the road, it was not possible to get a complete photo of the house. So I assembled all the photographs that were sent and put the house together from the photo references.

When it came time to do the painting, I decided to eliminate some of the foreground and zoom in closer on the house itself. I enlarged my drawing and transferred it to watercolor paper.

Beginning a Home Portrait - The Initial Sketch

My newest custom painting is a portrait of a beautiful home in California. The first thing I do is to gather all the photos that the client sent me. Putting them together can be a challenge especially when there is no complete view of the house which is the case with this home. A large tree blocks the view from the street.

So it's a good thing the client sent me lots of photos from various angles:

I start with a rough sketch to get the proportions, then right on top of the sketch I make a detailed drawing in pencil including shading. I need this drawing for two reasons:

1. Any paintings are easier for me to do with spontaneous brushstrokes if I have done the work of figuring out the composition and values (darks and lights) ahead of time. This is especially true when architecture is involved.
2. Since a pencil drawing is easy to change,  I send the client the image of the drawing before I begin painting. If anything needs fixing, now is the best time to do it:

The client writes, "Lovely! I'm so pleased and impressed." She thinks it's a good idea that I moved the tree to the left side so it doesn't block the house and that I eliminated power lines in the distance. The Jasmine shrub near the garage should have one trunk rather than three, so I will change that. Then, since she is pleased, I can turn this into a watercolor painting. I'll post the steps I use to do the watercolor next time!

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I'm happy to take custom orders! Please contact me for a custom painting or to have a print made of a painting you like.
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