I think my church commission painting is almost done. I’m going to look at it over the weekend and then decide what else, if anything, I want to do to it.
It always amazes me how different my vision is when I start a painting from the final product. It’s not bad, it’s just different. I think I still imagine I’m a photographer and not a painter. This painting is a lot warmer than I originally intended. The sky is cool, but the ground is warm. I did that because there are lights strung along the structure of the church. The effect it has is right, but not what I was expecting.
Yesterday I got two new ‘house portrait’ commissions. Both houses are in the Monte Vista neighborhood which is full of beautiful, historic homes. I’m looking forward to starting them. I think I’ve found my niche. I want to paint all the historic homes in San Antonio. I would love it if everyone wanted an Alston Cox ‘house portrait’.
I used to love to do home tours. When I was driving around yesterday I was remembering some houses that I toured several years ago. One of them I remember specifically because there was an original Picasso hanging in it.
When I walk through my neighborhood I’m always looking at people’s houses. I like to get ideas for the front yard, see how people decorate, what colors they choose. It’s a bit of an obsession. A few weeks ago I was walking and gawking and someone in their home took a second look at me through the window. My heart jump, fearing they’d come yell that I was Peeping Tom or something.
I’m not a perv, I swear. I’m just drawn to eye candy. I like to look. I used to subscribe to home decor magazines and take drives through cool neighborhoods to lift my spirits and give myself some inspiration. I often wondered if I should have been an architect or designer or something.
Maybe I can put some of that passion into painting homes. Painting their portraits. I had a friend of mine drive me around a few years ago so I could take photos of people’s homes with Christmas lights up. I imagined myself doing nocturnes but none of the photos turned out well. Plus, back then I didn’t really know what I was doing. I hadn’t discovered all the artists teaching online yet and was overwhelmed at the thought of nocturnes. I’m still figuring out how to create daytime values, much less nighttime.