Christmas 2015 has finally been wrapped up and so I thought I would share a couple of paintings that I was commissioned to paint as gifts.
Lake Louise, 16 x 20 acrylic on canvas.
This first piece was commissioned by the owner of Zenthropology, a new shop in Alpharetta that is currently carrying some of my work. Her family took a trip to Lake Louise in Canada and they wanted a painting from one of their vacation photos. When I first saw the photo I was in awe at how gorgeous that place is! I was so nervous that I wouldn’t be able to do it justice. I really enjoyed painting this piece and everything came together beautifully.
The second commission was done for a childhood friend of mine who reached out to me over Thanksgiving break. She asked me to paint a portrait of an old home place that had been in her husband’s family for many, many years. His father had another painting of the house that was created several years ago that he really loved so she knew giving him his own version would be the perfect gift. I worked from both a black and white photo for composition and the original painting strictly has a color reference. I find house portraits difficult to do since you have to make sure your lines, angles and perspective are spot on. On top of this, she wanted a larger scale painting at 36 x 24 so you can imagine how labor intensive this project was for me. But of course I was more than happy to do it! Below is the black and white reference photo and the finished painting. You’ll notice that I decided to simplify the trees in the background and the brush/grass/leaves in the foreground to better highlight the house. I’m so glad that I was able to work on such a special painting!
Katie Phillips Fine Art 
Beautiful house, and excellent detailing on the wood, but perhaps the grass could have used some additional texture.
Thanks for the feedback Shawn. I would have normally added more detail to the grass but my friend asked me to model a previous painting done of the house. So I did as I was told 😀