A House Portrait from Milford, Connecticut

by Jennifer Skopp

A woman who had already commissioned Jennifer Skopp to create a Watercolor House Portrait for her husband, asked her to paint another House Portrait, to give to her mom for Christmas.

This was her Milford, Connecticut home, a place of many fond memories.  Her family used to play basketball in the driveway. Her grandfather grew grapes to make wine in the back of the house. She asked Jennifer to include her mom’s dog in the House Portrait, even though it is no longer with us. Jennifer has noticed that when clients ask her to create a House Portrait that they have personal connections with, they tend to collaborate more and are emotionally invested in the outcome of the painting. These clients usually have very specific ideas of what should be included in the artwork and how it should look.

Jennifer was sent three photographs to work from. When the client lived in this house, it was brown. Today the house is light blue, but Jennifer painted it brown, the way it was when the client grew up. There is a long driveway that leads from the street to the left side of the house and then to the backyard, where you could see the vineyard. The driveway has a fork that leads off to the right, in front of the house. It is a two-story house. The one level garage is attached to the left side of the house. The siding is light brown. The shutters and roof are dark brown. The wooden front door is a medium brown. There is chimney on the right side of the house.

The garden in front of the house has small rocks instead of soil. There are shrubs and flowers growing. A few tall bushes are growing from the part of the lawn that is closest to the front of the house.