When asked this year what I would donate, I offered to do a drawing of someone's house. I have done house drawings for the Christmas in St Michaels fundraiser before - this should be a no-brainer.
Unfortunately, we were out of town the night of the auction so I didn't get to see the bidding or get to bid on anything. The next day I talked to the person in charge and was told that my offering went for $250! I love it that I can use a talent, have some fun and make a difference.
I contacted the winning bidders and they were really excited. We set up a time for me to visit and take some pictures of their house. The house is a large home made of stone and is in a lovely setting on the Tred Avon River in Easton. There are arches above the doors and windows - lots of interesting details.
Back home again, I began with an ink sketch with some pencil shading.
I cleaned it up a little and began adding more detail
My original idea had been to just do an ink sketch, but the more I looked at this the more I was convinced that it needed color. The black and white was just too busy and did not reflect what the house had to offer.
So here is my next step.
It's getting closer to what I had imagined, but i thought the color needed to be stronger. I fiddled with the trees a bit and darkened the sky. (Sorry, this next photo is a little out of focus)
At this point I took the painting to my watercolor class for a critique. The main thing was to crop it - it didn't need to big sweep of the driveway - it's about the house more than the setting.
So, I painted it once more, added a few clouds, darkened the roof (for contrast), put a little more color in the trees and worked on the shadows. Then I cropped it, matted it and delivered it to the homeowners!
Thankfully, they were pleased! I think it turned out pretty well. Comments?
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