the little house on main

Well I started and completed my first "home" painting this weekend. I enjoyed doing it and learned quite a bit from the process.

First, getting more muted colors can be tricky. I've seen artists "test colors" in the past but I have never done it. I'd just go for it. For this, though, I started testing by mixing the colors I wanted and painting them on a separate piece of watercolor paper. Yes, I know, I probably should have been doing this in the past.

The trick I have found with watercolor is that the paint can look really dark on the palette and because of the water it lightens considerably. Layering also helps with getting colors just right - like the red door. You can start with red and since the water dilutes the color it can look pink if you aren't careful - not quite what was needed on this house as the red door is super striking. Layering the red (and using a lot less water on the brush) can help with this as well.

I also realized that scale is important. One of the things I noticed I loved about my original home painting was the size of it on the page. I love white space so the main thing I wish I had done with this project was make the house a bit smaller.

I will be doing that going forward but I'm finding to get details into the painting - an 8x10 is hard to work with. In the future I may upgrade the size just to have more room to work. But for now, that is what I have on hand so that is what I will continue use.

Let me know what you think... and if you are interested in having your house painted I did post a listing over on the shop. Learn more here.