Custom House Portrait

I'm working on a lovely custom house portrait for a client that came in to Wood Icing Gallery a couple of weeks ago.  She gave me several close-up photos of her parent's home, a big sprawling white house in New York.  It's challenging, because there are so many angles and roof lines!  A perspective nightmare.  We talked at length about what she wants and her main objective is to include the Christmas decorations in the front yard.  I prefer drawing a house at an angle, which is usually more interesting, but this meant a straight-on view.  I sent her my initial sketch for approval and then forged ahead.  It's a white house and she wants snow, so I decided to put in a clear blue sky for a pop of color.  I'm aiming for a cold snowy day, not too sunny, but enough shadows to show off the drama of the house.  Here's my project so far:

This is my initial sketch, done from several reference photos.  I drew this on tracing paper, then transferred it to an 11" X 14" sheet of Stonehenge archival paper, using Saral transfer paper.

At this point, I'm about 1/3 done.  I got her approval and now I'm finishing the piece, which I'll post next time.