This week’s craft project made me a little nervous. For the last month and a half I’ve been doing a quick, simple craft each week — things like making a fall wreath, stenciling a pillow, painting baskets, decorating pumpkins and gourds, creating vacation keepsake globes, and trying ceramic paint on a bowl of colorful cacti. Most of those projects took under an hour and were very straightforward (paint this, wrap that, caulk this). So I don’t know what possessed me to try painting a small portrait of our first house.
It took far longer than my usual Weekly Crafty projects — easily five times as long — and at several points I worried it would turn out awful. It’s sweet and simple, and John likes it, but it’s definitely not the polished, commissioned-style house portraits you see on Etsy. This blog is about sharing the good, the messy, and the imperfect, so here’s how the DIY house portrait came together.
Materials I used: a 10 x 10″ canvas from JoAnn (on sale for about $4), a basic set of acrylic paints I already had (similar sets are commonly available at art and craft stores for around $12), a single flat-tipped brush that I used and cleaned between steps, and Liquitex High Gloss Varnish to seal the finished painting.
The most entertaining — and cringe-worthy — part of this project was watching the painting evolve. I took a series of progress shots so you can see the layers as the portrait developed. Below I break down how I built the painting in roughly ten stages, which might help if you want to try a small house portrait yourself.
I worked in thin layers, letting paint dry between some of the bigger changes. For every step I used the same brush, rinsing and wiping it as needed, and mixed colors on an old plate. Here’s the step-by-step breakdown:
- Step 1: I laid down a base coat: green across the bottom for grass and blue across the top for sky. The colors felt a bit bright at first, but a base layer is helpful since you can soften or layer over it later.
- Step 2: Using a photo of our house for reference, I sketched the general shape onto the canvas with paint, including the roofline and chimneys. The initial brick color read too dark and brown to me, but I planned to adjust it with subsequent layers.
- Step 3: I painted the roof in black and added a red layer over the first brick color to reduce the brown tone. I also outlined edges with a thin black line to suggest dimension.
- Step 4: After the red paint dried (I paused about an hour to avoid smearing), I used black to add shutters, chimney caps, and lattice details. The flat-tipped brush made it easy to get crisp lines just by using its edge.
- Step 5: With several shades of green, I built up bushes and trees around the house. Mixing lighter and darker greens prevents the landscape from looking flat.
- Step 6: I painted white details like the porch and window ledges, and realized the porch required adjusting the roofline, so I extended it and added a lighter layer on the roof. I also toned down the neon base grass by mixing more white into the greens.
- Step 7: I lightened the trees and bushes with additional pale greens, blending on a paper towel to test the tones before applying them.
- Step 8: I added two trees in front of the left side of the house. With gray-brown on my brush I experimented on the roof and foliage to add subtle texture.
- Step 9: The gray-brown felt muddy, so I layered more light green over the trees and bushes. I also softened the porch and roof with a touch of reflected greenery so the whole composition felt more cohesive.
- Step 10: I used the back of the paintbrush to dot on white highlights for azaleas in the front bushes. I loved the result and went a bit overboard with dots, so I removed some dark dots from the tree and kept the ones that read sweeter on the bushes and lawn.
After several hours spread over three days (roughly five hours total), I stepped back and decided it was finished. One comforting thing about acrylics is that you can always paint another layer if something isn’t working — it felt like a challenge with endless do-overs.
Once fully dry (I waited about 24 hours), I asked an artist friend what she uses to finish acrylics and she recommended Liquitex High Gloss Varnish. I picked up a small bottle and applied three thin, even coats about four hours apart. Varnish gives the painting a finished, glossy look and a little protection; a small bottle goes a long way.
Now the portrait hangs in a corner of the office. John has complimented it, which always helps, and I think it would look nice paired with another small painting — maybe of our second house — if I feel inspired to paint again.
I wrapped the painted scene around the sides of the canvas by continuing the sky, trees, and grass onto the edges instead of painting the sides a solid color. I like how that decision makes the piece feel more finished and gallery-ready.
If I were to do it again, I’d probably make the middle tree behind the house a lighter green and the two outer trees slightly darker to create a subtle halo of light around the house. Small shifts in tone can really affect the mood of a small landscape.
Have you tried a house portrait? Did you paint it, use mixed media like fabric or decorative paper, or try a digital filter or a framed photograph? I’d love to hear how you approached it and what tips you found helpful.