Full-colour house portrait

I was hired last year to paint a house portrait for some friends of the family. This was my first crack at painting a home from photo reference.

I went to their home on a sunny day and took a few pictures. We settled on this as the final reference shot:


They made a few requests for alterations, which included showing the hedge in its full fall colours. They also wanted the satellite dish and a few minor distrations left out. I also opted to increase the lighting on the side of the house, as it was in heavy shadow in the original shot. I used a slightly looser brush stroke on the surrounding foliage, and put a lot of detail into bringing out the texture of the stones. Here's the finished product:


20" x 30", acrylic on canvas.