Tuesday 24 November 2009

VILLAGE COTTAGE COMMISSION

Earlier this year I was asked to paint a lovely local cottage in acrylic on canvas 36" x 24" and to my embarrassment could not find time until late into summer to start it, but more embarrassing was I never got round to finishing it until Autumn came along as I was so busy with work for events and shows throughout the year. I am happy to say it was delivered to very satisfied clients, who have given me permission to add it to my blog. So....

here is the finished work


Thought you'd enjoy seeing how it progressed from initial stages, so some different images for you to look at

early blocking in stage

It was difficult to get the basic drawing down, as in real life half the house is hidden by a large tree in the flowerbed lane side of the driveway. Took me ages going back and forward to set the various windows in place, as the left hand third was, in fact, a separate cottage at one time and the windows are different shape and sizes to the rest. Even, you may notice, the roof line was slightly lower!! As for the three chimneys they all seemed different.

here is a close up of the left hand cottage showing the longer shaped windows and the left hand flower bed from plants back in the late summer.


Here is the porch area, with the delightful unusual coloured door.



and finally a bit of artistic licence where I have brought the brick post with the numbers of the two cottages forward from the entrance to the drive. I simply had to add the soft pink summer roses that grow in that righthand side flower bed beneath the lounge windows.



What you might spy in the finished image at the top is the added acrylic gel with glass beads to create the feeling of the pebble drive surface.

It was a long job but once drawn in I thoroughly enjoyed the painting from the brickwork to the flower beds, porch and even the windows!!

7 comments:

Sandy Maudlin said...

What a beautifully painted canvas. Thanks for sharing the upclose pix. I love the welcoming feeling of the home and could imagine scuffing my shoes as I walked on that driveway. Great job!

RH Carpenter said...

Beautiful job on this! I love the way the driveway sweeps us in and makes us want to open that door and walk into the cottage :)

Claire M said...

This is a very beautiful painting. I'm so glad that I wandered over here today to see it!!

Robert A Vollrath said...

I like how the painting invites you to walk up to the door of the house:)

"JeanneG" said...

Very nice especially with all that brickwork to deal with. Love the colors and texture of the drive. Have you talked to Anita? She seems to be missing from her blog.

I hope you are caught up now so you can do some more fun paintings.

Joan Sandford-Cook said...

Thankyou everyone for your kind comments about this very detailed piece of work I really enjoyed doing - once the drawing was painstakingly pieced together with many a dash back to check it out at the cottage fortunately in my village!!!.

Don't worry Jeanne, I have just returned from a weekend with Anita at our mutual friend's lovely seaside cottage. She will be posting on her blog soon.

Margaret Ann said...

What charm and beauty...Lovely! :)