This article is about house portraits for Realtor closing gifts, which is for sale at discount with prints by artist Stephen F. Condren, BFA-SAIC, of Condren Galleries, a Fine Arts Gallery, offering JPEG & PDF scans. Though residences in multi-unit structures have been the subject of house portraits, by in large the single family home is the defacto model. Most often the house portrait is given by a Realtor to his/her clients as a closing gift. This has proven to be a very successful and popular gift by the Realtor in securing future leads and referrals. Order House Portraits Here.
Architectural Renderings
House portraits are casual works of art and they are not Architectural Renderings by any measure. A masterful example of Architectural Renderings are my renderings of the Loeb Mansion, which can be seen below that is in the permanent collection of the Chicago History Museum. The purpose of an architectural rendering is to convey in exacting terms to an architect or committee what the proposed structure will look like. There is little to no room for “artistic license” for these offerings. As you can see in the Loeb Mansion below, the use of Two Point Perspective was employed and thus all of the lines for the vanishing point recede either to the left or right vanishing point on the horizon line. This is a very technical and tedious kind of drawing and take an enormous amount of time and energy.
Realtors
By in large most of my clients are Realtors that give the house portraits to their clients at closing. The most common protocol for ordering a house portrait is to place the order on-line then email to me the MLS link of the house. If there is no MLS link any photo will do. I usually request a few images of the home, from the left, right, and center. If possible a nice close up view of the entry is good to have as well.
Perspective
I always contact the Realtor when I receive the images or photos and go over them with him/her to make necessary adjustment to the image. For example, if there are unsightly poles, cars, or toys in the photos I recommend removal of these objects. Also, the angle and position of the house in the frame is discussed. Some homes lend themselves to being seen or “painted” from a certain angle or perspective which I seek to use. Without doubt any trash canisters or debris of any kind is removed without question.
Genres
The two most popular genres that I have chosen to do for house portraits are watercolors and pen & ink. Below is a brief outline of the two classes.
Watercolor House Portraits
Watercolors are the most popular house portraits.
Very fresh and light are the watercolor house portraits which have proved to be the most popular genre of house portraits that I do. I start out all of my house portrait renderings with a light pencil sketch of the home. After I have put down the sketch I examine it to check out the proportions of the dwelling in relation to the landscape and the scale of the picture plane. Once that I have determined my satisfaction with the layout I then detail fine places on the rendering that will need attention.
After the final pencil draft I then get out my India ink and pen and commence with the rendering. Usually the first thing that I do is the sky for it sets the tone of the work of art. My pallet has a set mix of color that I have prepared for the renderings. In the case of the sky colors I use a mix of cerulean, cobalt, and Prussian blues. Depending on the photo I balance the intensity of the tones to match the photographs or other images provided.
Pen & Ink House Portraits
Pen & inks make very good and exact house portraits
Though I greatly watercolor house portraits, there is an elegant robust beauty to the pen & ink renderings. There is an exactness that you get with the pen & inks that you do not get with the watercolors. Generally speaking, the pen & inks are more robust and stronger as the delineation brings out all of the architectural detailing of the dwelling.
Townhomes
House portraits for townhomes make a wonderful closing gift as you can see for the image below.
Ranch Homes
Ranches make for an excellent house portrait for closing gifts and housewarmings.
Ranches are of course a very popular style of home and as you can see for the image above they make a lovely image for any house portrait.
Conclusion
No matter what style or age of a home is, the most cherished of all closing and settlement gifts are House Portraits, the gift that keeps on giving!