A California Childhood Home, Reimagined in Ink and Watercolor

Some commissions start with crystal-clear reference photos. Others start with, "We don't really have great pictures of the house, but..." This one was the latter, and honestly, challenge accepted!

This 16x20 ink and watercolor illustration was a gift from my client and her brother to their mom, honoring the family's previous home in Fairfield, California. The house itself had personality to spare--blue trim, palm trees and even a parking meter out front.

To capture the home as her mom remembered it, my client pulled together a few vintage photos from her childhood. They were enough to reimagine the front yard with landscaping as it once was and to repaint the door back to white as it used to be.

My favorite part? A tribute to her late dad, who loved decorating for the holidays. So I painted a couple of spooky Halloween friends in the windows over the garage.

From the blue trim to the spooky windows, every detail in this painting was a small way of saying: we remember. And if there's one thing I've learned from painting homes, it's that sometimes the smallest details tell the biggest stories.

To commission a custom watercolor illustration, visit jennypaintsbyhand.com/gallery-of-work