Preparing for a New Commission Painting of a Pacific Grove Home

After taking many photos of the house,
I made some quick sketches.
Here is one of them.

 I have taken on a new commission.  A nice lady in Oregon remembers her good times at her grandmother's home in Pacific Grove, California.  She has asked me to paint her grandmother's house to add to a wall in her home.  She plans to surround the painting with photos of family and fun times.  

So I took on the project.  Here are photos showing my process working out the problems of the painting with sketches and a 9" x 12" practice painting.

She fondly remembers the lavender in the front yard, and although it is no longer there, I plan to add it to my painting.  

See the next blog to see how I progress on the 18" x 24" painting.

After making the drawing and graphing it out,
I re-drew the drawing on to a small canvas board and begin blocking in the dark values.
This practice painting was just to capture the color and value patterns. 

Here is the finished 9" x 12" practice study.  I may still make more
changes to this little painting later.