skip to main |
skip to sidebar
ARCHITECTURAL PORTRAITS
RICK MONZON
A FEW WORDS ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL PORTRAITS
One of the major themes in my work has been the suburban home. Even as a kid I would draw pictures based on the idyllic home renderings I saw in the brochures my folks brought home when they were looking to buy into one of the new housing tracts of 1960 suburban Los Angeles.
Later on as my work got around in galleries I would occasionally be asked by someone to do a painting of their home but the idea of really developing this came when I was recently
commissioned to paint a very large portrait of a Spanish style home in Los Angeles.
My work had taken me in many creative directions but this major work prompted me to create this site, dedicated solely to Architectural Portraits.
I like to paint things with a fluid, blurry look almost like you were seeing them from a moving car. Since I like to blend and blur my paint strokes I work on smooth wooden masonite panels instead of canvas.
When I’m hired to paint a commission I meet with the client at the house and talk about what they’re looking for, size and pricing and how I might interpret their home in a painting. Then I photograph the home from different viewpoints and later upload to my computer.
From there I review the pictures in Adobe Photoshop where I crop and enhance the best view of the home and send it to the client for approval.
Once approved, the painting takes about 4 to 6 weeks to complete. I can also work exclusively from photographs when the client is far away and it's not convenient to meet in person and see the actual site.
Although my work has been mostly centered around Southern California, I’d love to be able to travel and paint portraits of houses that show a wide cross section of neighborhoods and local histories much like a photo journalist working with people. Every picture tells a story.
Later on as my work got around in galleries I would occasionally be asked by someone to do a painting of their home but the idea of really developing this came when I was recently
commissioned to paint a very large portrait of a Spanish style home in Los Angeles.
My work had taken me in many creative directions but this major work prompted me to create this site, dedicated solely to Architectural Portraits.
I like to paint things with a fluid, blurry look almost like you were seeing them from a moving car. Since I like to blend and blur my paint strokes I work on smooth wooden masonite panels instead of canvas.
When I’m hired to paint a commission I meet with the client at the house and talk about what they’re looking for, size and pricing and how I might interpret their home in a painting. Then I photograph the home from different viewpoints and later upload to my computer.
From there I review the pictures in Adobe Photoshop where I crop and enhance the best view of the home and send it to the client for approval.
Once approved, the painting takes about 4 to 6 weeks to complete. I can also work exclusively from photographs when the client is far away and it's not convenient to meet in person and see the actual site.
Although my work has been mostly centered around Southern California, I’d love to be able to travel and paint portraits of houses that show a wide cross section of neighborhoods and local histories much like a photo journalist working with people. Every picture tells a story.