11-10-15 Finished Painting

The photo above is the finished painting of the Williamsburg County Courthouse, Williamsburg, Virginia which I have been working on for several weeks. The real key to completing a commission painting is to please the owner of the painting and keep the painting true to my style. I'm very pleased with all aspects of this landscape having taken enough artistic license to accentuate the background trees to allow the building to fit into a "space" and not just sit on a paved parking lot. In a landscape painting the sunlight determines all the elements of the sketch, the sky, the deep shadows, and just how white the whites really are.  This grand old building deserves to be displayed in all of its original glory and grandeur and I hope this painting does it justice.

11-5-15 Commission

Making progress on this watercolor painting and I can see the end is near. At this point all the major parts and pieces have been painted in, now I must make sure the details are added which may seem like little things but they help to round the painting out. I will let it sit for a week then come back to look at it with a more critical eye.

11-3-15 Commission

Once the eves and soffitt's were finished it was time to paint in the brick walls. I like to paint in one wash and be finished as apposed to the watercolor technique of layer upon layer till enough color is built up that you finally reach a color saturation point. My next step will be to touch up small inconsistencies and put in the windows which will tell me if my values are correct because the windows are fairly dark and will darken up the whole composition. After that there is work to be done on the grasses behind the building.