A House Portrait of the Hanson House in Cranford, New Jersey
by Jennifer Skopp
A social media marketer contacted Jennifer Skopp, who represents a real estate agent working in the Cranford/Westfield, NJ area. The realtor sends out art mailers that feature local artists depictions of Cranford scenes. Jennifer was invited to create one and chose to paint the Cranford Historical Society building, also called Hanson House.
This building was originally designed to be a Queen Anne Victorian single-family residence, that was constructed in the 1870’s. It is a two-story building with an attic on top. The attic has a small window under the roof, that looks out to the front of the house. The siding of the building is a cool green. The window frames, moldings, and door frames are off-white. The front door is a dark red or burgundy color. A ramp in the front of the house, that goes from the front door and runs parallel with the house has a white gate with vertical, thin spindles, was constructed in more recent times. The ramp leads to the driveway on the left side of the house.
The path from the front entrance to the street is on the left side of the house. There is a small sign on a piece of wood that was inserted in the grass that identifies the building and has the number of the address. There were also little American flags with short flag poles, that were inserted into the grass on both sides of the path.
A small, attached one-story building, with one door and one window facing front, looks like it was built more recently. The front of this little attached building is covered with various tan little stones. Perhaps it is an office.
There are shrubs and flowers that border the front of the house. There is also a circular area on the right side of the lawn that has more shrubs and flowers.
Jennifer was concerned that the ramp would look like an eyesore in the Watercolor House Portrait, but after outlining the spindles and shading some, it didn’t look that obtrusive. Jennifer took photos when she started this project in late Fall. Nothing was in bloom, so she did her own landscaping and painted brightly colored flowers and a few trees with pink blossoms in the background.
