More than half of the people who buy my house portraits buy them as a gift for their parents. Many times the parents are moving and the painting will be a memento to hang on the walls of their new home. Something about a painting is just more personal than a photograph of the house. Is it the color? Maybe the personality of the house comes through better in a painting? I'm not sure, I only know that when people tell me to emphasize something I can do that pretty easily. I have noticed that a flag flying in front of a house is always more noticeable in person than it is in a photograph. Is that because the flag is waving at me? I don't know, but that knowledge helps me create better paintings from photographs. If they have a flag in the photo and I put it in the painting it is always bigger than life and it is always fluttering, regardless of whether there is a breeze.
This painting was for the girl's parents and she took the pictures with the Christmas decor on the lawn- actually there was more- another couple of reindeer and more lights. I toned it down and it is still somewhat busy for my taste, but not, I suppose for people who decorate extravagantly, as this couple appear to do. In this painting I had an overcast photo of a house with a muddy lawn to work from and I asked her if we could add snow and even a snowman to make it more Christmassy. She said yes and that was kind of fun. Another option with a house painting is to put it on your Christmas cards-- this one was a good fit.
The last request? The little dog on the porch was a Bichon Frise they owned for a long time.
11" x 14" oil on Canvas
Reindeer on the Lawn
