Framed Minature House Commission

Today I'm sharing a recent commission I've just completed. It's a miniature framed house front.

I've made a front door like this before but not the whole front of the ground floor. The bay window was an added challenge!

And I was asked if I could possibly make a working porch light! This was quite easy once I found the right lights; a set of fairy lights with a slimline battery and switch. I only needed one light so the rest are hidden in the frame. 

All of the plants were another challenge which took a bit of experimenting but I ended up using a combination of bits of sponge, pot pourri, and dried mixed herbs.

I think my favourite thing about this piece is the hanging baskets. I found a couple of wooden beads that I was able to saw in half to use for the baskets. I built up bits of sponge for the plants and used an old necklace for the chain which I attached with small pins.

I cut a custom mount for the piece and found a shadow frame which had a bit of depth to house the porch section and keep everything neat. 

Miniature House Ornaments

Do you remember the miniature pink beach house I made? After I posted it on my Instagram I was contacted by my favourite Etsy customer with a commission to make two miniatures houses; one of her previous apartment building and one of the house she lives in now.

Having spent most of my time at university making miniature models I always get excited at the opportunity to make something tiny. I like drawing out the plans, scaling everything down and seeing how much detail I can include.

Google street view was my best friend when working on this commission. The customer gave me the addresses of the two buildings so I was able to find them online and see them from different angles. Being able to view images from previous years on Google maps meant that if there was a blossoming tree obscuring my view one year, I could check to see if there was a photo taken in winter when this wasn't a problem.

I also find it really interesting looking at houses from other places. These buildings are in America and they look nothing like the houses I live around here in England.

I added ribbon loops to the backs of the models so that they can be hung on my customer's Christmas tree. She already has a felt dog ornament and another custom ornament so I'm slowly taking over her tree!

Custom Felt Dogs

I've been really busy recently making custom felt dogs. It's really exciting how popular they are.

I get a lot of my orders through my Etsy shop, but I also posted about them on Facebook and a few of my friends shared the post which has brought in some orders too.

Here are some of the dogs I've made.

I've found that French Bulldogs are definitely the most popular dog at the moment. I've sold quite a few of my standard ones, and had lots of orders for custom ones.

The dogs that I think turn out the best are ones with high contrast features, like this Dachshund.

I've had orders come from all over. From as close as my work place, to other countries like America, and Sweden - where this labrador is from!

Baby Painting

This painting was a commission from my Mum to give to her friend as a wedding present, and features the friend's son. The medals are for running (they belong to the friend, not her baby!) and she even ran the marathon when she was 5 months pregnant with this baby!

 

I worked from a photo my Mum got off her friend's Facebook page. I simplified the background and had to add the bottom of the feet as the photo cut them off.

 I think I managed to achieve a good likeness to the baby. I hope the newlyweds like it!

Follow me on Instagram @lisagharrold to see what I'm working on

Mouse Illustration

I was recently commissioned by a colleague of my boyfriend to create a picture of a mouse to match one she already had, which were to be gifts for her husband. The one she has is a lino cut so I needed to produce a black and white, graphic image to match. This is not my usual style but I welcomed the challenge.

I started by sketching a few composition ideas and then going over them in fineliner. She prefered the top one but asked if it could be a night time scene.

To try that composition with a black background instead of white I just photocopied my drawing and coloured in the background. I really like the contrast between the dark background and the white grass and wheat.

I drew out the image to the requested size - 10 x 10 cm - and painted it just using black acrylic paint which would give me the bold, black background I was after.

I found it a bit trickier to create the sketchy lines I had made with a pen in my initial sketch with a paint brush, so I tried using a dip pen and ink to create the same image. I prefer how the fur looks in this one, but the background isn't as bold.

In the end I went with paint, which was my boyfriend's preferance, and produced a final image to fix a few things that were bugging me about the first one. As I could trace the shapes from my initial sketch, painting a new image only took about an hour.

Painting: Robyn and Mack

My latest painting is commission from my friend Robyn of her and her dog Mack.

Work on this painting got interrupted by moving into my new flat, but now that I'm in and my craft corner is set up I was able to put the finishing touches to it. 

Painting: Christmas Commission

In December my cousin asked me if I would paint a picture of her and her boyfriend for his Christmas present. This is that painting.

When she first sent me the photo she wanted painting I was like, 'you realise that doesn't count as a photo of the two of you. But if that's how the young kids roll these days, living your life on computers, then so be it.'

Her boyfriend loved it.

Another satisfied customer.

Painting: Dog Commission

My friend commissioned me to paint this picture to be given as a Christmas present to her boyfriend's parents. It's their dog, Spud.

Apparently they loved it. Another satisfied customer.

Painting: Commissioned Dog

I just finished this painting which is a commission for a friend's friend of their dog.

It's good practice for painting something other than portraits of people and landscapes, and it's good painting practice in general as I didn't do much in my last term at uni.

What do you think?