Custom Watercolour House Portrait

Your house, painted by hand in watercolour from your photograph: the front door, the chimney, the climbing rose, the aerial nobody got round to taking down.
A photograph records a house. A painting remembers it. Every portrait is an original watercolour on proper artist's paper, painted by me and signed. Not a print, not a filter, not a template with your postcode dropped in. One house, one painter, one sheet of paper.

The gift that is genuinely hard to buy

A new home. A first home after years of renting. A retirement. An anniversary. The family cottage that has survived four generations and one disastrous extension. A house that is about to be sold and should not be forgotten. People rarely own a picture of the place they love most, which is why this one tends to be hung in the hall and not put in a drawer.

What you receive

• An original, signed watercolour of your house, painted by hand
• Real attention to the detail that makes it yours: windows, roof tiles, chimneys, the colour of the door, the pots on the step, the name on the gatepost
• A sky and light chosen to suit the house, whether you want a quiet summer morning or something with more weather
• Your choice of painting only, or mounted and framed in a clean white frame, made in our own studio and ready to hang
• Careful flat packaging for safe delivery

How it works

1. Choose your size, format and framing, and place your order.
2. Send me your photographs by email or message (guidance below).
3. I send you a pencil sketch to approve before any paint touches the paper. Watercolour is unforgiving, so we agree the composition first.
4. I paint your house. When it is dry and signed, I send you a photograph of the finished painting.
5. It is framed if you choose that option, packed with care and posted to you or to the lucky recipient.

The photos I need

• One clear, front-on photograph of the whole house, roof and chimneys included, taken in daylight (a bright, overcast day is ideal)
• A few close-ups of anything you would like to see in the painting: the door, a window, the garden, the gate
• Tell me what to keep and what to lose. Yes, the wheelie bins can go. Parked cars, scaffolding and road markings are also negotiable. Artistic licence is included in the price.
• Several photos are better than one, and a photo taken at a slight angle often gives a livelier painting. If you are not sure yours will do, send it to me before you order, and I will tell you honestly.

Have a tricky house?

Terraced, thatched, converted, crooked: message me before you order and send a photograph. I would much rather talk it through first than guess.
Come and let me paint the house you love.