This wasn't quite as bad as "9 years to present" but still, this gift took almost a full four years to manifest itself. As a trade to a classmate at Joint Forces Staff College, I promised a painting of a home which had special meaning to her family. That was Feb/Mar of 2015. I am going to give it to her as a present in about three days from this post...and she's not aware. I hope it's a touchdown. The tell is always in the face.
This is the final version - as you can see with the stamp. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it and am quite pleased with the lights. Below are some shots along the way. I'm getting better at remembering to take pics as a project develops, and I'm usually bummed when I forget.
Above left, I was pretty happy with the trees and thought I'd quickly sketch out the house with basic colors. I did it to initiate the 'process' of painting a house. Above right, in general I was struggling with painting a building. They have lots of details and usually lots of straight lines - neither of which are really in my repertoire. You'll notice the gap between the house and the trees. That was something that needed to be fixed so these first sketches were completely painted over.
Above left and right are very similar - I waited too long between the 'over paint' of the first house sketch. You can see the trees are essentially the same but the house has grown significantly and better fills the scene. I liked the pale windows and probably should have left the panes off. I actually like the second sketch, but I think it would have been too abstract for the recipient. Side note, I think she's expecting a watercolor painting. Good thing acrylic is water-based.
UPDATE, 20190219
I received a very nice thank you note for the picture. That always makes it worth it.
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