Commissions make me nervous. Any helpful tips on the painting are appreciated!
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@Whitney-Simms This is very nice and I like the effects you are getting with the watercolor. A couple of things I would suggest. When doing anything in watercolor, the first thing to ask yourself is "What is going to be light and what is going to be dark". Keeping things simple is tricky and sometimes it means changing what is in the photo by a lot. So, is this a light building over a dark backound? Or a dark building in front of a light background? The reason that you can't answer that very easily is that it's right in the middle. The roof, trees bricks, and almost everything else in there is all a middle value (with the obvious exception of the white support structure).
So I would suggest just answering that easy question as you plan your next painting. What is going to be light over dark and what is going to be dark over light.Here's a few images for inspiration. These are from the great Joselph Zbukvic
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@Lee-White thanks so much! That makes sense. I will keep an eye out for that next time. I’ve never really thought about it so cut and dry. I was trying to make the trees in the back light so they would be in the background, but then I needed them dark for the columns. I got pretty confused! I’ll keep it in mind. I haven’t really done a value study before in regards to a scene like this. With the idea of what’s light and what’s dark, that will help in the planning stages for sure! Once it’s dark on watercolor paper you’re kinda stuck! Thanks for your help!
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@Whitney-Simms I'm so glad that they loved it and there are opportunities going forward! Great job!
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@Whitney-Simms I have the same problem—timid with the darks
and this already looks lovely, so I understand your reticence. But I agree with the advice I fear myself—push the contrasts. Commissions make me nervous too! 
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Okay, here is the next item for them. They wanted it to be more whimsical. I decided to draw it freehand and hopefully it would loosen things up. Now to the value. The building is a deep forest green. Look at the two bottom thumbnails. Do I make the building subtle and pop the figures in the front or the figures stay light in value and the building get super dark. Help?
@Lee-White are you free for an opinion?
Any other words of advice are welcome as well. Thanks y'all. And the mother's day event is in two days! Ahhhh. Say a prayer for me.
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I can't say which one you should choose, but I will say that typically you don't need to go exactly by what the photo shows. For example, if the figure is going to be light, I'd move her in front of a dark area. And if the building or part of the building is going to be light, I might change what she is wearing to something dark (like you did in the lower left).
The real question to answer first though, is this painting about the building or the person? Depending on your answer to that, I would adjust accordingly.
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Thanks @Lee-White . Thank helps. That’s kinda the the problem I’m toying with. The store is the focus, not the shopper. They want to use this on their social media to advertise their store. Why can’t people just ask me to paint flip flops. I think i will scooch her over a bit in front of the window, but not dead center. And I will make the building the dark and the plants and shopper the light. That will make the contrast of the sign and the building pop. It’s really cool. It’s a stand alone building just before the cluster buildings start on Main Street.
Thanks again for your help! I opted for spoonflower challenge and actually finishing work vs this month’s competition. I felt a little like, crap I missed the crit from lee. So, super thanks for helping with these paintings!!! I’m going to do redraw on the bandstand too. I can’t stand for them not to be in the same style if they are going in the shop together. This time with the darks all on the bandstand!
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Here we go. I shrunk the lady and tried to pull back on the value of the front objects. But if you squint everything is mid value. Ah! I’m probably going to leave it be for a while. Right now I just need to walk away. This is so hard.
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I added more paint. Now I’m seriously done with their commissions. Yuck! But if I want them to sell my cards in their store, I should probably paint a few things that force me out of my comfort zone. And they know licensing people and stuff.
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@Whitney-Simms I think this watercolor looks gorgeous. Maybe to help differentiate from the mid-values, you could deepen some of the shadows with a thin wash of purple, esp. under the awning? I did a rough drawover showing what I mean, plus added a piece by Iraville for inspiration.
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@Johanna-Kim youre the best! Thanks for the tips. I did go and deepen the greens and grays already. I went to scan and said , ugh. One more try. But the shadow from the awning is fantastic! I’ll totally add that in. It adds tons to the painting
I totally love that artist you posted. I follow her and love her work already.
Thanks for the tips and feedback!
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Here are the final images! And shots from the mother’s day event. It was tons of fun. I’ve alreayd gotten a bunch of new followers. A commission I politely said no to, approached by another store to possibly carry my cards and took my card to pass it along to an entirely different store, interviewed and post on a town blog. So much fun! Next I need to come ready with a few big ticket items as well. But for a week prep, I think I did pretty good!
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Wow. This is impressive. Way to go!
