Commissioned Watercolors

Commissioned Watercolors
Commissioned Watercolor gift painting the Merion Tribute House
- September 2, 2015
- by Allison
I love the creative ideas clients come to me with for commissioned watercolor gifts! This client is the mother of the bride. The idea was for a surprise anniversary gift for her daughter and son in law.

Their wedding invitation used thermography for the text and was a simple text only design printed on a thick white board. The idea was to paint their reception site on their invitation. They got married at the popular gothic style castle in the Philadelphia suburbs called the Merion Tribute House.

I met with the client in person and we excitedly went through her wedding photos from her daughter’s wedding. I shared a couple of sketched layouts and we decided to go with the layout above because it was the most colorful. The Merion Tribute house, being castle like, has a lot of gray stonework, so zooming in on the beautiful red door, stained glass windows, and greenery around the entrance brought a lot of nice colors to the watercolor. As you can see in one of the zoomed in photos, I added some silver metallic watercolor to the windows which added a nice shimmer to the piece.

What I liked about this project was that it was very similar to what I create for clients for their wedding invitations but it was almost like a retrospective because the wedding had already occurred.

To read more about Commissioned Watercolor Gifts, click here. Contact me for a custom quote.
Commissioned Watercolors
Lily Commissioned Watercolor Painting
- June 12, 2015
- by Allison
Happy Friday! Today I’m sharing a commissioned watercolor painting of this pretty golden lily plant I created awhile back. I’m pretty surprised I didn’t share this painting earlier…I think it was because this painting was a surprise birthday gift for someone and I didn’t want to spill the beans!

I love the overall warmth of this painting as well as the depth and perspective in the background. This commissioned watercolor painting was created based on a photograph the client took at the Philadelphia Flower Show. Side note…I’m totally that person taking crazy amounts of photos at the Flower Show too!

The weather has turned exceptionally warm and sunny this week in Philadelphia and this painting seems to resonate with that warmth. If you are you interested in purchasing a commissioned watercolor, contact me for more information. Have a wonderful weekend!
Commissioned Watercolors
Vintage Purple Feather Bride Portrait
- May 15, 2015
- by Allison
A special Friday treat for you…a bridal portrait illustration fitting for a purple, vintage wedding. This bridal illustration is inspired by the Vintage Purple Feather Invitation in the Hand-Painted Weddings Shop.

This pursed lips bride is all about the accessories, while wearing a simple (and comfortable) drop waist wedding dress. I was definitely inspired by Daisy from Great Gatsby with this illustration, I have to admit. I just love the blonde bob haircut along with the large, pink hair fascinator, which matches the bride’s belt and shoes peeping out from under her dress.

I think a vintage wedding is a lot of fun! There are loads of inspiration in doing an era themed wedding. And let’s admit it, there is something surreal about your wedding day, so why not conjure up another decade for your theme and be playful. One of the things I like to encourage brides to remember for their wedding is lightness. It is so easy to get bogged down with all the heavy decisions along the wedding planning process, so I try to remind couples that it is a celebration and a bit of whimsy is sometimes just the thing to get the focus back on the most important aspect of the wedding…joy.

Have a beautiful weekend everybody!

Vintage Purple Feather Bride painted by Hand-Painted Weddings.