"THE HOUSE IN THE FOREST"

 

Mark and Sherrie are lovers of all things Halloween, and own a number of my haunted paintings. So when construction of their new home was completed  last year, they naturally contacted me to commission a haunted painting of it. I was delighted, of course. A batch of excellent photos followed by mail, all partial views, due to the setting of the house, intervening trees, rocks and such. I mentally reassembled the scene as I created my initial study-painting. 

When my study was complete, I was still a bit uncertain that I had visualized the house they do.  Hoping that the image I sent was on the right track, I asked them to let me know if I had succeeded.  Their reply was what I always hope for:

On the right track? - I am totally blown away - you are a genius. A few small changes -  There is a light on the top of the right hand wing wall, and I think it would look good if it was on.  The area at the left foundation where it steps down appears to be an orange shade.  Maybe keep the same grey color all the way down, or a slightly different shade of grey. The shutters should be black.  On the far left side could you add a few boulders to balance it out, even though there really are none there?  I'm not good at sending pictures over the computer, but one of our cats is dark grey, and the other is white with some tan spots on the side of the face and body.  Vinnie was a big orange and white tabby.  We are going to want the painting in the full sheet size.  Looking forward to seeing the next draft. 

Based on their feedback, I revised my study-painting to take care of every comment, and upon approval of that second image, went on to create the finished painting. (You may not be able to see the cats in this image, but they're all present, even Vinnie, the ghost cat.)  As I nearly always do, I hid a number of spooks in the painting too.

A few days after dispatching the finished painting, I received the following:

Thanks for doing such a fantastic job on the painting of our house.  We love the details in the trees, clouds, etc.  When guests walk by it, we'll have fun seeing if they recognize the house in the painting.  We give you the highest praise.