American Foursquare House Portrait- Cincinnati

 

Whenever I draw a house it's hard not to fall in love with it.  And that was certainly the case with this stunning American Foursquare home in the middle of my neighborhood.  When I looked the house up to find more details I was surprised that it was categorized as American Foursquare.  I thought it might be a Craftsman-style Victorian...Craftsman because of the amazing stone front porch, and Victorian due to the curved, leaded windows.  But when I looked up American Foursquare, I understood why.  The definition of American Foursquare is "a two-story house with a rectangular footprint and a front porch that runs along the full width of the house." (source)   

For this house sketch I hired my next door neighbor to take aerial photos with his drone (his photos are stunning...check our his website here).  I ended up using a combination of his photos with a couple I took from the house across the street.  After I completed my pencil sketch I transferred it to my watercolor paper and then inked it in.  Below you can see the finished black and white drawing.

And here you can see the very beginning color on the house and plants.

I like to work sitting in front of the computer so I can Zoom in on details from the photos.  It was really helpful to have aerial photos from above to see certain elements from different angles.  This was especially the case for this drawing because the actual house was obscured by lots of trees and I had to make up the parts of the house I couldn't see. 

Below you can see a close-up of the stone porch.  I absolutely love this element of the house and how round the stones are.

I am normally kind-of slow when I do a house portrait.  But I was forced to work even slower because one of our cats attacked the other and we've had to keep them separate.  Plus George has been out-of-town for two weeks...forcing me to grab an hour here and there.  In some ways I think it has been good to slow down even further.  Each day I would look at it and I could see "this need darkening or that needs more color."  It was like the painting would tell me what it needed every day.  I was happy when it finally stopped needing anything and then I knew it was done. 

I deliver the painting to the owner tomorrow.  I told her it has been the only thing keeping me sane in this crazy time of cat fights and separations.  And I truly am thankful to this house for taking my mind off of cat gates and vet appointments and researching feline aggression and hours of YouTube cat behaviorists.  I think work can be a kind of salve for me.  I can lose myself in it and be truly present in the moment...just the painting talking to me and my brush responding. 

“The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey
is the step that you are taking at this moment.
That’s all there ever is.”
—Eckhart Tolle