A Victorian from the 1800s.

Early this week, I worked on a commissioned piece. A beautiful Victorian, right here in San Jose, California. My favorite kind of commissioned work is where I can work on location like I did here.

It was a blustery day with the sun coming in and out of the clouds. The day had so many moods, I had to do more than one piece. And though the angle on these two sketches isn’t that different, the mood shifted from a cloudy day with sunshine in little patches to a truly sunny day. In both pieces I tried capturing the mood of the house at that instance.

That new blue in the sky? Daniel Smith’s Cobalt Teal Blue. I’m liking the blues I can mix up by using it in combination with Ultramarine Blue, but we’ll have to see if it replaces the Cerulean Blue that’s been in my palette forever.

There’s not a big difference between when I work on a commissioned piece or just work on location. And I love that, because it means I don’t have to switch styles and I can enjoy mixing and splattering as usual. One little difference is that with my own work, I never touch a piece once I am not on location (more about that in this post). But with commissioned pieces, I will re-look at them when I am back in my studio.

On the left is where I stopped working on location. On the right, a bit more depth and shadows to push back that porch, some red trim around the windows to punch them forward, and a few separation highlights.