105 East University - The Traugott Home
9x12 Watercolor
My work in the studio this week was a "labor of love"....a home "portrait". This painting is of a 1920's bungalow on a quiet street in one of Waxahachie's historic districts. My clients purchased the home as newly-weds and as the family grew in numbers, it became necessary to find a larger home.
Two weeks ago, on the day they sold the house, they contacted me and comissioned a painting.
Intimate conversations with clients are as important as sketches and photographs. As I snapped photographs and made quick sketches from several angles, I listened carefully as they talked about the house - and after a short while, I began to see the home through their eyes. It was evident they are excited about the move to their new home, but at the same time, there's the sadness of leaving their first home; one filled with love and laughter and children. A photograph gives me technical information, but there's no emotional connection....it doesn't share memories. It doesn't tell "the story".
Elements in the painting - the big tree and dappled light; the flower gardens; the red door; faces in the picture window - are all connected to a family memory. Everyone - except the family - will see a painting of a house...but the family will see and remember "the story".
Commissions like this one give me great pleasure. I'll deliver "105 E. University" tomorrow to it's new home with the knowledge that it will continue to tell "the story" in the Traugott family for generations to come.
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