This is a commissioned “portrait” of a home. Serendipitously, the homeowner is a house painter. And a friend. We’ve been to the house. It is a comfortable, inviting suburban home.

What makes this a portrait and not just an architectural rendering is the license taken with certain aspects. The subject matter is a given. The assignment is to represent the house pretty much as is.

But color and composition can express something of its character. The owner loves this house. It is a good home. It is a simple, horizontal ranch-style structure that has been well maintained. Placing it across the middle of a horizontal canvas projects stability. The upper tree/sky background space is equal to the lower lawn foreground space, framing and emphasizing the calm horizontal composition.

Visual interest is created by the contrasts between the upper and lower spaces. The upper active pattern of green trees against the blue sky plays against the more flatly presented bright green lawn. As the eye bounces vertically between these two fields, it finds “rest” in the more neutral-colored, horizontal house.

The colors used are high-key (bright) and analogous (similar), giving a positive, happy feeling.