Home for the holidays

The house so nice and geometric that it caught my attention straight away. Light and smoke from chimney are great details, they make it stand out and make the house focal point!

Great painting. What was your process for painting the house? I'm trying to improve on my cabin making skills and I'm wondering how you were able to create the straight lines? Were you using oils and painting wet on wet or allowed the entire thing to dry so that you could go in with a straight surface like a ruler? Good work!

Thanks for the compliments!

Lightsnow- I'm glad you asked. Typically, I free-hand all my buildings but this instance I blocked out a basic shape using tape. I then used oils (wet-on-wet) and when the background was done, I removed the tape, which gave me a nice outline to work with. To tell you the truth, I think I prefer the look of free-hand better. I think this throws off the painting a little bit in my opinion (Not congruent with the rest of the composition). To each their own!!

I see your point about the house. I think it works both ways. It adds a bit picturesque quality to it and suddenly makes it quite cozy, but at the same time it makes you worried because forest is dark around. Yellow versus blue works as even better eye catcher. It states that painting is about the house and the rest is just surrounding. I think in terms of composition you have a wonderful execution.

Thanks Sunnylady!! The house is definitely supposed to be the focal point so I'm glad that was established. This was my first time putting a chimney on a building and I love how the smoke turned out! Will definitely have to try that again 😁

This is quite a unique painting. I really like the level of detail in your foreground trees and little grassy bits. The smoke coming from the chimney makes that little house feel so cozy despite the obvious cold outside.