I have a few paintings hanging in the coffee shop in my hometown of St James, Minnesota. The owner has been really supportive of my art (thanks Heather!) and agreed to let me sell some paintings in her shop.
One day, a female customer (Ann) saw the paintings and asked if I would be interested in painting a portrait of her house – two actually – one for each of her grown children. She wanted them painted in the same whimsical style I used for one of the paintings that I had on display.
I told her I would love to paint her home and thanked her for the opportunity. She emailed me a few photos of her home – a farmhouse built in the late 1800’s. She also asked if I could include a black lab in one painting, and a gray cat in the other. I did a few sketches, and decided to paint 2 different angles of her home – one from the front (with the cat sitting on the sidewalk), and the other from the side that would include the black lab laying under a tree.
I described my ideas to Ann and she was excited to see what I would come up with.
A couple weeks later, I met Ann at the coffee shop to give her the paintings. I had wrapped them in tissue paper and a heavy brown paper (similar to a grocery bag) so she couldn’t see them right away. When she removed the paper I could tell by her expression that she was pleased (which made me very happy).
Since then I’ve done other house portraits, and have orders for a couple more that people want to give as Christmas gifts this year. As of this writing, I still have a couple spots left that can be done by Christmas. If you are interested in a watercolor house portrait, visit my Etsy shop and place your order today!
Thanks for reading!