Painting a magnificent home ~ the importance of vanishing points!
I just started working on a commissioned painting of a beautiful stone home, designed by its owner. For many years we have walked by this home and admired the architecture. The home stands out among the many brick homes in the community as something different ~ something unique. The owner has an exceptional eye for detail and her exquisite taste created a show place.
Photographed by William R. Beebe
The home and guesthouse are mostly stone but have brick accents around windows and trim. Stucco surrounds the large palatial window on the upper right side of the home. The roof lines flair out with a curve at the end. There are all kinds of extras to the trim and other woodwork.
After taking pictures of multiple views of the home, we narrowed it down to this one. This vantage point adds dimension to the structures and shows the guesthouse connecting to the main home by the covered walkway.
One problem with picking this particular angle is that it is a fairly wide shot. If I were to back up far enough to get the entire home and guesthouse in the picture the trees in the front yard would block it out. Already, from where I took this picture, there are trees blocking a good portion of the house.
Another problem with this angle is that the camera lens tends to distort large structures on an angle.
So creative license was used to remove the trees, which were obstructing the views of the property. This allowed me to give a glimpse of the spectacular water view behind the home. I ended up using vanishing points in drafting the pencil sketch instead of relying entirely on photographs. This came in handy particularly on the guesthouse, which parallels the main house. The camera didn’t happen to see it that way and I had to make significant adjustments for that distortion.
Now that the draft-work is done other details like the sky colors, cloud formations, and types of flowers in the flowerbeds are all being mulled over. Soon it will be time to start painting!
Drawing on board by William R. Beebe
I will be posting the work-in-progress at various stages in upcoming blogs and on my Facebook page. Thank you as always for your interest in my art and for taking the time to read my journals!!!
“One of the joys of being an artist is having the freedom to follow my passion...”
What's next?
Drawing by William R. Beebe